The Truth of Us
by fmfan1980
Summary: The galaxy has become much more dangerous with the awakening of the Nocturna, an ancient race evil long thought destroyed by the Alterrans. One makes its way to Earth, and will reveal Joyce's secret. A secret that she's not even aware of. How will BUffy react to the secret and the existence of aliens? *Real Chap 03 uploaded*. All reviews are welcome.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters, locations or plots from Buffy, Stargate SG1. This is just a work of fiction which using the worlds that have been opened to us through the creators of these shows. All reviews are welcome.

 **A/N:** This story takes place a few days before the events in Exodus (SG-1: s04e22) and during the events of Listening to Fear (BtVS: s05e09).

 **The Milky Way Galaxy, sixty million years ago.**

The Watchers Council believed that the Earth, or Terra, was older than anyone thought it was. That demons and the supernatural walked on its surface when it was a hellscape of fire and brimstone. They believed that the planet, in what they called the Primodium Age, was the home of demons.

And they were right.

The Earth was home to the demons, monsters, and creatures of darkness. However, what they didn't know was that it lasted for the better part of ten millions years. Before that, there were no demons, no monsters, there was nothing supernatural; instead, the world was teeming with life like a paradise right out of the religious texts that exist today. What they didn't know was that a race of people lived on Terra long before the demons and the creatures of darkness. A people from another galaxy.

It was five million years after the last of the dinosaurs were rendered extinct that a ship landed on a blue world, the third planet orbiting its star. The ship carried refugees from a faraway galaxy who came upon a belt of stars they called Avalon. And the lush, green world they landed on was named after their own race, the Alterra.

Terra. That was what the Alterra called the planet on which they would make their new home. A home free from the persecution of the fanatically religious Ori; a home where the Alterra could spread and form a new society of their own.

And Terra was to become the jewel of their new civilization. The planet was colonized and, after forty years, a ship left the planet and set course for a world that would eventually be known as Dakara. It was the very first planet they landed on during the journey to Earth. With a recently invented device meant to ease transportation throughout their new civilization by creating a stable wormhole, called the Astria Porta, installed on Terra, and the second one was installed on Dakara. And the first stable connection for wormhole travel was created between these two planets.

Thanks to the Astria Porta, Dakara became their first colony, and the ship- one of many seed ships, continued laying Astria Porta on habitable worlds in Avalon, and then they left the galaxy and set off for other galaxies in the universe depositing the ring shaped devices on habitable worlds. While the Alterra expanded their sphere of influence, they soon became allied with three other advanced races who had only just started colonizing the galaxy as well; the Furlings, the Asgard, and the Nox. This alliance of four races shared ideas and knowledge on a third planet that eventually would come to be known as Heliopolis.

And thus, the Alliance of Four Great races was born.

However, the four races were not the first to step foot in the galaxy. And Terra wasn't the only planet that was full of life. It was simply the planet most suited to what the Alterra were looking for and it resembled their homeworld. There were other planets that were full of life, including, a planet on the far side of the galaxy that. The planet was teeming with life, but it was life that was dark and twisted. A world that would be introduced to the Alterra six hundred years after they colonized Terra. It was a world of perpetual night, a planet of forests, streams, lakes, and vast stretches of grassy land that covered the surface. The darkness was momentarily broken as squeals were heard in the distance while a bright white light washed over a small area. The light soon faded, and the squeals disappeared, only to be replaced by the sounds of howls, growls, and grunts followed by the thuds of footsteps that were travelling fast towards the momentary flash of light. The light was fully faded now, but it left behind an Astria Porta and the accompanying Dial Home Device on the surface. The seed ship that lay it, then swung around and jumped into hyperspace for the next planet in its itinerary.

It would be two minutes later that several bipedal creatures stepped out of the shadows snarling and growling at the new object that stood amongst them. One of them, it's eyes blood red, it's skin covered in black, hardened scaled skin, opened its mouth and growled at the object in front of them. The open mouth of the creature revealed row after row of sharp teeth before it pulled back and looked behind it. All of the creatures then turned as well as squeals sounded in the distance. The creatures growled and returned to chasing their prey, leaving the ring shaped device alone among the trees in the vast jungle.

It would be twelve years later that the Astria Porta activated for the first time. The blue event horizon rippled as a team of six Alteran scientists arrived on the world. The blue light from the event horizon highlighted their surroundings. So once the Astria Porta deactivated, their light faded, and so they took out their flashlights and swept their immediate area before they went exploring. With the ship known as Destiny having been launched a mere forty years earlier following the ships that seeded Avalon with Astria Porta, the Alterra were now free to explore and further expand their civilization. And they did. The Alterran civilization covered nearly four hundred worlds, with many more still being explored, with over billions upon billions of people settling on these colonies. And Terra was their capital.

It was peaceful, unlike their own galaxy where the Alterra were hounded and killed by the Ori. However, that peace wouldn't last. The scientists on this dark world were soon hunted and, then with the swipe of sharp clawed hands, were killed. The creatures had found a new source of food as they bit into the flesh of one of the scientists. They used their immense strength to crack the skulls and then take off the top of the skull before biting into their brains.

There was an unforeseen side effect. The creatures' main food source was a species of armoured, and tusked, boar. The creatures would eat their brains and gain knowledge of how the boars would avoid them during their hunts. And the creatures used that gained knowledge to perfect their hunting of the boars.

And it was the same with the other prey on the planet. However, the creatures were also cannibalistic... they had in-borne instincts of when the hunters were greater in number than the prey. And so, the leaders of every pack – the larger and fiercer females- would lead in eating the weaker members of their groups. But after eating the brains of the Alterran scientists, the creatures grinned with blood dripping from the sides of their blood-stained lips as memories and knowledge entered their minds about the current state of the galaxy.

There was a civilization of billions out there in the galaxy. And their own civilization of billions of hunters had a new food source. They craved variety, and the scientists who lay dead on the grass were just an appetizer.

Using the knowledge gained from the scientists, the creatures accessed the network of Astria Porta and, over the next year, seventy planets were attacked. A total of forty billion lives were lost.

All Alterran.

The attacks would come at night. And these creatures, which became known as the Nocturna, only arrived through the Astria Porta after the setting of the sun. They would slash, tear, feed through cities and towns killing men, women, and children. They were incapable of being seen using the advanced sensors of the Alterra, and later the Asgard, the Nox, and the Furlings. The more knowledge they gained from the killings, the more cunning the Nocturna became. In another two years time, out of a total of six hundred and seventy billion Alterra… more than three hundred billion lost their lives.

The Alterra were losing a war they were wholly unprepared for. However, three years since they encountered the Nocturna, the Alterra had just finished building their first warship which was sent to a world currently under attack. The mission was to save as many people as possible, and retrieve a creature so that it could be examined. The ship contained a unique weapon that was created for war. For a race of scientists and philosophers, the thought of killing these creatures were unfortunate… but this weapon was needed urgently. The Alterra, in agreement with the other three races who knew they could be attacked at any time, knew that they needed powerful weapons to fight back. And so, the drone weapons were created.

Once the ship entered orbit of the world after exiting hyperspace, one of the attacking Nocturna was beamed up and locked in a cell surrounded by what was the most advanced shielding system in the galaxy. While scientists and the advanced ship sensors were examining the creature, the Captain of the ship prepared to fire the weapon they were certain would turn the tide.

From the ship, yellow coloured dots flew out and rained down on the planet below. There were no survivors among the three million inhabitants, and so the Captain of the ship used the new Drone weapons to destroy every moving thing on the surface of the planet. However, it was a hollow victory even with hundred of thousands of Nocturna having been shredded apart. Over the next few months, seven more ships were built and sent to fight the Nocturna. However, by the time the ships of the Alliance arrived at the location of a planet under attack, it was too late.

No one knew where these creatures came from; all everyone knew was that the Nocturna were a galactic threat… a deadly scourge that could wipe out the Alliance. The Alliance knew there was no choice, they had to come up with a new approach. During a meeting in Heliopolis, one of the Alterran councillors admitted that they had been working on a device for the past six months on Dakara that would take care of the Nocturna threat. He admitted that they required a DNA analysis of the Nocturna… and they finally had it from the one they captured.

The rest of the Alliance reluctantly agreed to use the weapon. The most powerful weapon in the galaxy, powerful enough to end all life it targeted. An Alterran was the one who activated the weapon while opening every Astria Porta in the galaxy simultaneously. An energy wave travelled through the dark planet, the homeworld of the nocturna, and billions died with one stroke. Nocturna in the midst of attacking other worlds died as well; however, there were a few that survived by going deep underground and entering a period of deep slumber.

For now, though, the threat was gone in an act of genocide that was purged from all records of the Alterra. No one would ever know of what they did, because the Alterra did not want their descendants to have their hands stained with the blood of their ancestors' mistakes. The Alterran population grew once again, and the Alliance held for millennia.

At least until the plague that nearly wiped out the Alterra, leading to the end of the Alliance. The vast majority of the Alterra died, while others ascended, and the rest fled Avalon for a new home in their city-ship of Atlantis. The very same weapon that ended the Nocturna, was then used to destroy all life in the galaxy and thus ending the plague, before it was used once again to reseed life.

However, what no one knew was that a group of Nocturna lay in deep slumber deep underground on a distant world. They were unaffected by the energy wave. And they presented a grave threat if they were ever to wake up.

 **Planet soon to be designated as P2T-118, known by natives as Asherah. Earth year: 1981; 1930 hours.**

The remaining Nocturna, fourteen packs led by one female, were in hiding underneath the surface of a world forty thousand light years away from their own homeworld. Millions of years had passed them by when a sweet scent hit the nostrils of the female. It slowly opened its red eyes. And growled. She got up slowly, looked at her males lying in hibernation, and looked up upon breathing in the scent of four figures. The creature then stealthily walked forward through several passageways, it's eyes seeing in the dark as if it was day. After fifteen minutes of moving through one passage after another… it lay its eyes on four people who looked like the Alterra.

They didn't notice the female since she blended with the darkness around them. However, sensing that she was being watched, one of them looked up and scanned the area with her eyes. The Nocturna could hear the Alterra's heart racing as she turned and spoke something to the others in a language she did not understand. But, sensing that they were about to escape, the female Nocturna struck first. The screams of the four people reverberated through the walls… the scream of the woman was last… the scream stopping after the sound of a sickening 'crunch'.

The body of the woman fell onto the ground where it lay in a pool of blood. It was twitching uncontrollably while a good sized chunk of her forehead was missing. As the Nocturna walked passed the bodies, it was licking the inside of the skull it tore off the woman's forehead using it's clawed fingers. The Nocturna then, once all the brain matter and blood was licked off the inside, dropped it with a thud and ate the chunk of brain matter it pulled off the piece of skull and chewed it. After a few minutes of swaggering towards a breeze rushing past her, the Nocturna stopped and looked out the mouth of cave covered partially with undergrowth of grass and vines hanging from trees outside. Its eyes were blinded by the sunlight as it stepped back further into the cave, and growled in hunger as it breathed in the scents of nearly six hundred people in the distance. It closed its eyes and concentrated, and heard the sounds of celebration… as well as a scent that made the female nocturna lick its lips.

It was the scent of a newborn; no more than two hours old. The female remembered her first taste of a child, and she wanted this one for herself. Her male soldiers could have the others, but the baby was her meal. But she could not act now.

She needed to wait for the night to fall, and then she was going to have her fill… starting with the baby. The female nocturna sensed that she didn't have to wait long, so all she had to do was wake her soldiers. She knew that once they had killed the village, she needed to mate so that she could lay eggs for the next generation of the Nocturna. And then they were going to ravage the galaxy once again.

 **Asherah, 1800 hours.**

Gina was looking into a mirror as she placed both of her hands on the wall in front of her. A hand suddenly covered her mouth to stifle the moan that was about to escape as she rolled her eyes upwards. Her body was shaking as she caught the reflection of the man who was behind her just before closing her eyes tight. She saw that his eyes were closed as well and brought her head back down and hung it half in shame and half in response to the pleasure emanating through her whole body.

At the last grunt of the man behind her, Gina let out a stifled scream which she hoped no one heard from the living room below. The man was panting as he stepped back and bent down to pull his pants back on while Gina stared at herself in the mirror. She was flushed, and her curly blonde hair was ruffled when the man behind ran his hand through the back of her head of hair.

"There's something wrong with me," Gina said softly as she lowered her ankle length skirt which had been bunched to her waist. She looked at the reflection of the man in the mirror looking back at her. He had a small smile before she turned around and looked into his brown eyes. "nine months ago, you said you'd leave Caresa, that we would wed and.. and then…"

"Then she became pregnant," said the man.

"Linton," whispered Gina as the man took a step forward and held her hips before leaning in for a kiss. However, she moved her head to the side and whispered that they couldn't do what they had just done again.

"I didn't hear you complaining just now?" Linton said as he leaned in and kissed her neck, "and your sister's busy with the baby, and…"

"Your baby," said Gina as she gently pushed the man away, "a child I wanted with you. Now… now my big sister get to have a child with the man I love, and…"

"Gina," said Linton as he held her arms gently.

"I… I can't," said Gina as she moved sideways and away from the man, "maybe… maybe this is the last time. Maybe it's a sign from the gods that… that I should move on."

"We can still do this," said Linton as he referred to their affair, "do you really want this to be our last time?"

"I kept telling myself that when Caresa was pregnant," said Gina, "but my… my mind would close up every time you joined my bed. I… it's up to me to stop. And… and by the name of the gods, then I heard your baby cry after her birth. I was there when Caresa gave birth to my niece and… and now… now… how I can I look into her eyes while I'm having an affair with her father."

"You won't stay away from me," said Linton, "you know that, Gina. Remember six months ago? You told me the same thing. We ended up having the best coupling between us in ages. You couldn't stop after that, and you won't stop now. I…"

"It stops, Linton," whispered Gina as she walked past the man, "it stops today." She then opened the door and walked down the platform and down the stairs to the large living room. There was music and the smell of cooking meat to celebrate two auspicious events; the end of a fruitful harvest, and the birth of a child.

"Caresa," whispered Gina as she smiled at her older sister who held onto a tiny bundle wrapped in a pink blanket while sitting down. Behind her was a table with several place-mats. The bundle in her arms moved slightly as Caresa looked up from her child, and smiled at her younger sister. "Have you picked a name yet?"

"Mother is telling me that she prefers Alatina, and father said he prefers Colina before he left for the nearby village in a supply run."

"And Linton?" asked Gina as she sat next to her sister who was holding onto the child.

"Aphrodite," said Caresa.

"I don't like any of them," said Gina as she leaned sideways at the sleeping baby before looking at the stairs. The both of them saw Linton walking down the stairs. He then reached the bottom and turned while telling Caresa that their room was ready. Caressa said thanks before telling the man that her father wanted to meet him outside. Linton nodded his head and glanced at Gina. They looked at each other for a second before she looked away, and towards the baby. "she's so adorable, Caresa."

"I never got to hear the name you want for her," said Caresa as Gina looked at her in surprise.

"You know our customs for naming a child," said Gina, "only those of the elders in the family…."

"Or the elders of the village can name a baby," Caresa finished her sister's sentence. "I still want to know what you'd name her."

"Artemis," said Gina as she looked at the little girl, "if I could offer a name, I'd offer Artemis as a name."

"Can I use that name?" asked Caresa.

"Ye.. yes," replied Gina nodding her head.

"Linton, tell mother I have selected a name," said Caresa, "tell her… tell her that I chose it." Caresa then turned to Gina, who had a warm smile on her face, and said, "but the three of us will know it was you."

"Hello, Artemis," said Gina as she brushed the back of her finger on the baby's cheek. Her mind went back to what she had told Linton earlier about not being able to see her niece in her eyes if she was still having an affair with him. And as Artemis opened her eyes and stared at Gina, the curly haired twenty two year old knew that she made the right choice. Caresa asked Gina if she wanted to hold the baby, to which Gina nodded her head as her older sister handed the baby over gently. In the meantime, Linton went out the door to inform his mother-in-law that the baby was named. Gina looked down at the baby in her arms, and felt a tinge of envy. But she put on a smile, "your mother and I will always be here for you, my Artemis. Through sun and the rain, and the storm… we will be here."

"You will be protected, Artemis," said Caresa as she lay two fingers on the baby's forehead, "and…"

Suddenly, the two women looked up upon hearing a bloodcurdling scream, followed by loud roars from nearby. Gina, her heart racing, stood up as she heard the sounds of men, women, and children screaming all round them. It was then that the baby in Gina's arms started to wail- the little girl releasing a loud scream that filled the whole living room. Gina and Caresa screamed as well when three bodies were flung through the windows and into the room.

"Mother!" yelled Gina as she rushed to the bloody and unmoving body. She and Caresa had tears in their eyes as they sobbed at the horrific sight of mutilated and half eaten bodies on their living room floor. With the baby in her arms, and holding onto her sister's arm with her other hand, Gina rushed out the door, and into the panicked crowd of people who were running around in every other direction. Their eyes opened wide upon seeing the monsters that were attacking, and eating, the people in their village.

"Gina!" yelled Linton as she and Caresa turned around. The both of them could only scream as two creatures pushed him onto the floor and started to tear him into pieces with their gnashing teeth. Caresa was sobbing for her husband as Gina pulled her arm, the younger sister trying to be brave for the both of them, as she and a few others made their way towards the lights of the next village visible in the distance, across the fields of tall grain. As they ran, they heard the screams of men, women, and children from the village as the monsters killed one person after another.

"Run! Run!" yelled Caresa as she pushed her sister forward while running behind her. She was already exhausted from giving birth earlier that day. And she was falling behind as she looked over her shoulder at a larger monster, nearly seven feet tall looking around while the smaller monsters were killing indiscriminately.

'Not just killing… eating,' Caresa thought to herself. It was just then she heard a loud scream. A scream that made her sob as she ran. It was a scream of three children calling out for help. And then the cries vanished, only to be replaced by more men screaming. But she, her sister, and several others behind them continued running through the fields.

Suddenly there was a loud howl while the baby's cries pierced the air after the village behind them was quiet. The monsters, the nocturna, were now feasting. Caresa looked behind her while running and saw six of the shorter monsters coming after them while the tall and larger one seemed to lean forward and sniff the air before it ran after them.

"Caresa!" yelled Gina as she ran with her niece in her arms while looking over her shoulder.

"Run!" yelled Caressa running as she waved them on, "run! Run! Run!"

"NO! Caresa!" yelled Gina as she turned and saw the people behind her sister get cut down. They screamed in pain before they were set upon by the monsters who bit into their necks, and then pressed down, killing them. Time slowed down for Gina as she saw a monster slash her sister's back. To Gina, her own scream seemed to drag on as her sister fell to the ground while her niece was wailing in her arms. She could hear Caresa telling her to run as fast as she could through tears stain eyes while both aunt and niece cried in the night.

"Run… Run… Arte…" gurgled Caressa with blood running down the side of her body before a Nocturna jumped onto her back and stomped down on her spine. Gina gave off a bloodcurdling scream before she ran towards lights and through the tall stalks of grain. She looked over her shoulder at the larger creature running after her. She saw the red eyes, the drool falling from the side of the creature's lips as it ran and roared at her. Something in Gina was telling her that the monster wanted her and the baby. Gina ran faster than she had ever run before. She heard footsteps behind her as the ground and some fallen stalks crunched beneath her feet. She heard the growls behind her getting closer… but she didn't want to look back while she held on tight to the baby in her arms.

All Gina had to do was get to the next village where her father had gone earlier in the day to buy additional supplies for the baby. She could warn them, and then everyone could hide somewhere… somehow.

'They're getting closer,' though Gina as the sounds of growls were getting much closer. Her legs felt heavy, her lungs were burning, and she was panting when she looked over her shoulder and saw the larger creature getting closer as it pushed through the stalks. She heard the sound of blood rushing behind her ears. It was the buzzing sound of the blood that made her miss the other creatures darting past her in the distance and heading for the next village. Gina looked back to her front, and as she did… the woman tripped and fell towards the hard ground.

And she knew this was it. If she fell, the large creature would be able to reach her, and then kill her and her niece. Suddenly, as she fell forward she saw a white light in front of her, followed by a pair of arms holding onto her own. She then saw the light coalesce into a face with brown eyes and a soft smile of a dark blonde haired woman.

All of a sudden, things shifted around her, and Gina found herself standing in a large room with flaming torches hanging on the stone walls. The light danced off the stone and reflected on the flags and hanging banners which contained an unknown symbol.

"You are safe," said the woman as she let go of Gina's shoulders and stepped back. The young woman holding the crying baby sobbed before falling onto her knees. Gina cried out as she closed her eyes and tears fell down her face while leaning forward with the crying Artemis.

"What is…, how… ?" said a man in a red robe as he rushed into the room. He was soon followed by six other men, all wearing the similar coloured robes, staring surprised at the woman crying on the floor and then at the woman in a cream coloured dress standing over the young woman.

"You are the monks of the Order of Dagon, are you not?" asked the woman as Gina trembled while she sobbed. One of the monks nodded his head and rushed to the sobbing woman and placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to calm her down, while the others rushed forward and demanded to know what was happening from the mysterious woman.

"You are the Order of Dagon?" asked the woman as she crouched down and placed a hand on the forehead of the baby who immediately stopped crying. Instead, Artemis simply looked up at her sobbing aunt.

"We are," said one of the men gently as they sensed the calm emanating from the woman in white, "and you are?"

"I am one who broke the rules of my people," said the woman as Gina looked up at her with red eyes while mumbling to 'bring them back.'

" _Bring them back, please… bring my family back… I beg you…"_ she begged while sobbing _, "take my life for my sister…for my mother… for my father… please… please… save him. Please."_

"What did she say?" asked one of the monks, while another monk said that they didn't understand the language.

" _Their deaths, heinous as they were, were part of the cycle of birth and death,"_ said the woman sadly as Gina lowered her head and sobbed while apologizing to Artemis. The woman gently continued talking, _"I could not help the others, and I.. I was not supposed to help you either. But… but your heart… your need to protect the child was what spurred me to act."_

" _Then bring back the others!"_ yelled Gina as the baby started to whine. Gina heard the baby, and looked down into her eyes before saying that she was 'sorry'. _"Please… bring them back."_

" _I have brought you to another world, another place where you could begin anew,"_ said the woman _, "I can do nothing else. Except ask for assistance from these people."_

" _I….."_

" _Sleep, Gina,"_ said the woman as she touched her forehead. The young woman lowered her head and fell asleep while the woman in white took the baby into her arms and held her close. The woman in white then looked up at the confused monks, and slowly went up onto her feet.

"This woman has just witnessed something no one should ever witness," said the woman, "the death of her entire village at the hands of an insidious race."

"Race? Was it an Orc? Demon? Or…" asked one of the monks.

"It does not matter," said the woman as she looked at the child in her arms who went back to sleep. She then looked at Gina, and then to the monks, "Gina's mind will need time to heal. Ordinarily, I would be able to use my abilities to change her memories , but I have already interfered too much in the evolution of these two humans. And my punishment will be dire…. But bringing them here was worth it. No child should be… should grow up alone."

"What do you intend us to do?"

"Gina deserves a new identity, a new life, a new family, and a new hope. The baby is much too young to remember what happened to her family. But Gina needs your aid," said the woman, "you can change reality itself, and give her new memories. It is why I have come to you. Will you help them?"

 **L.A, 1981, two days later.**

"I'm up, I'm up," said Joyce Summers as she got out of bed upon hearing a baby crying in the next room. She looked over at her husband and narrowed her eyes at the still sleeping man and wondered how he was able to sleep through the steel plated lungs of their little girl. She got up off of bed, put on her robes, and then her slippers before trudging half asleep around the bed. She then went out the door, and into the room where the baby's crib was placed in the middle of the room with a mobile hanging overhead.

Joyce looked down at her baby, and smiled as she reached down and took her in her arms.

"Let's take a seat, Buffy," said Joyce as she sat down on a rocking chair. "I'm sure you're hungry, sweetie."

Joyce started feeding Buffy as a woman in white looked on for a few seconds before she turned and walked through the door. She walked through the house and caught sight of the various pictures showing Hank, Joyce, and Buffy summers together. She looked at their wedding photo, Joyce's graduation photos, and even pictures of her first date with Hank. There was even a picture of a young fourteen-year-old Joyce with her parents next to a childhood picture of Hank with his own parents.

"Ganos," said a familiar voice from behind as she took in a deep breath and turned around.

"Hera," said the woman, "I take it you are here to punish me?"

"I asked the Others to show you some compassion," said Hera as she walked towards her, "you did what you did because you didn't want to see them killed. You took pity on them."

"I did," said Ganos as she looked at the picture of Joyce and Buffy, "Gina and Artemis. I went back to the planet… the other villages were devastated. No one survived… at least I believe no one survived. I saw nothing alive in the other villages. Gina and Artemis could very well be the last of their kind. The monks gave them a new life, and in return, I told them that I sensed a dark force slowly growing in regards to the Matrix."

"I feel it too," said Hera before she shook her head, "but if you do something like this again, then the Others will come down hard on you."

"I know," said Ganos, "but I have no regrets."

"You have always been looking out for the children, old friend," said Hera as Ganos released a small smile while turning her head to look at the pictures. "What will you do now?"

"Return to the higher plains," said Ganos, "and you?"

"I will return to Sunnydale… it is almost dawn, and I wish to see Athena awaken from her slumber."

The figures then vanished. The house stood silent as Joyce was feeding Buffy; the former having the memories of her previous life changed by the monks, as well her own reality. Joyce was happy with her husband and Buffy. And she needed nothing else.

It would be sixteen years later that Joyce got divorced from Hank, and she and Buffy moved to Sunnydale. Her daughter, a Slayer activated when she was only fifteen, then saved the world numerous times from one apocalypse after another. Eventually, even Joyce found out the truth about her daughter… and she initially didn't take it well. Eventually though, she came to terms with Buffy being the Slayer. And soon after... just like that… she watched Buffy go off to college.

All the while, Joyce didn't know the truth of who she and her daughter really were. She was content with her life, just as she knew Buffy was content with hers. The two of them loved each other, and nothing would ever tear them apart. And while Gina and Artemis were living a new life as Joyce and Buffy Summers respectuvely, the Nocturna's population started to grow as they continued to consume the people of Asherah. Eventually, the population grew to a little over forty thousand Nocturna. It would be soon that the initial Female... the one who wanted to eat Artemis and her mother before they vanished... the very same one who had the knowledge of activating an Astra Porta, would dial out a wormhole.

Leaving behind a devastated planet twenty one years after having eaten the entire population, the Nocturna... at least those who already had the knowledge of the Stargate network after consuming the Alterra millions of years ago, including the initial female, lead groups out into the galaxy.

 **The Planet Vorash, secret underground Tok'ra base, twenty one years after incident on Asherah.**

General Jacob Carter, the host for the Tok'ra known as Selmak, had just returned from the latest mission to sabotage Goa'uld naquada refineries. He had been sent the orders by the High Council a week ago, and the mission was finally completed. Landing on the sun lit surface of Vorash, the General exited the Tel'tak and walked towards the ring platform next to a pair of large sand dunes. As the man was walking while mentally speaking with his symbiote, he failed to noticed the breeze covering up the last bit of a footprint that led from the Stargate to the ring platform.

 _Jacob: "Now that this mission's over, maybe I'll head back to Earth. Take a week off and spend time with Sam, Mark, and the family."_

The General could hear Selmak chuckle in his mind as the rings rose up, followed by the old man getting awashed with white light. When the light faded and the rings retracted to the base of the platform, both host and symbiote gasped at the scene laid down in front of them once they reached the underground base. The General took out his Zat, and activated it while talking a slow step off the platform as he looked at the blood covered walls and floors of the hallway in front of him. The man saw bodies, both host and symbiote lying on the floor in their own blood. He crouched down at the first body, and thanks to the dim lights on the ceiling, Jacob saw that it looked as if the symbiote was torn out from the back of the Tok'ra's head. He looked to the right of the body and noticed the slash marks, but the shocking thing he saw was the skull was cracked open and the bones scattered on the floor, and the brain was missing.

Trying not to vomit because of the sight and smells before him, the General got to his feet slowly and looked around at the chunks of flesh that were missing on various parts of the other bodies. He felt Selmak quaking in fear, and as a result… so did he. However, he knew he didn't need Selmak's fear, he was already afraid on his own. He had seen a lot of things during his military career, but nothing like what he was seeing now as he turned into another hallway while his boots quashed as he stepped into pools of blood.

There were half eaten bodies laid out on the floor of the hallway in front of him. He then looked through the opening to his left and saw two sets of legs on the floor behind a table., He cautiously walked in, wondering if whatever it was that did this still remained in the base. The General stepped on the shards of glass from the various bottles and beakers broken on the floor as he kept his Zat raised at the other entrance to his right.

Once he saw the bodies, the man sighed and closed his eyes in mourning.

The bodies were of Lantesh and Martouf… and the other body was that of Freya with one half of the Anise symbiote lying next to the body. The General then walked out of the room and continued down the hallway when he felt an intense fear. He grabbed the back of his head while Selmak was telling, screaming really, to run.

But the General wanted to go on. He took another step and stopped when he heard a loud growl from the hallway to the left, and from the right. Then he heard the sounds of thuds on the floor as a group of creatures were running towards him. The man turned to the opening on the left, and through the dimly lit hallway, he saw with his eyes opened wide as three black scaled creatures roared before they bared rows of razor sharp teeth at him. He then shot a Zat blast, and then another and another to no effect. He then heard growls from behind.

Not wanting to look, the man dropped the Zat onto the floor and ran for dear life. His heart was racing while Selmak was screaming at him to run as fast as possible. The roars and the growls stated to get closer and closer… the General could hear the feet of the creatures falling on the blood-soaked floor; and the General did his best not to slip and fall. The man touched a crystal on the wall, and then skidded to a stop and look behind him as the crystal created a wall to block the path of the creature. The General stepped back when he heard the roars from the other side of the wall, followed by the sound of a fist punching into the wall.

And then, not wanting to wait around, the General turned again and ran towards the ring platform. He remembered the bloody eyes that looked back at him, the blood dripping from the lips and the side of the creatures' mouths… and the claws. He remembered the claws as he ran faster for dear life. Then, as he made a turn into another hallway with the ring platform at the end of it, he heard the wall behind him crumbled, followed by a roar. And he ran faster.

Once he was a few steps away from the ring platform, the man took a leap forward and landed on the platform. He then slammed his hand on the activation button on the wall and turned. He saw the rings rise up and surround him just as one of the creatures leapt forward. The General was then washed in white light, and found himself standing on the surface under the sun before he stumbled away from the platform. He fell forward and stumbled as he tried to keep his balance while running away from the platform in case those creatures came after him. He ran a few meters before turning to find that he wasn't being chased. The man was panting as he remembered the horror down in the base, and the image of the creatures baring its teeth came back to him.

He didn't know what the creatures were, and neither did Selmak; and that worried him. The man didn't want to hang around longer than he had to, so he turned and ran towards the Stargate. He hoped that the SGC had a record of this creature, or that Daniel could have encountered stories of this creature from the various worlds that the SGC sent their teams.

"Please tell me you have something," mumbled the General as his hands shook in fear while he was inputting the IDC after the Stargate activated, "please tell me you guys have something."

 **Unknown World, 2200 hours.**

The System Lord known as Apophis, a thorn on the side of Stargate Command and Earth, died a gruesome death.

It was only minutes ago that the Goa'uld finished inspecting the twelve Ha'tak class vessels that would be used for the attack on the planet known as Vorash; the Tok'ra base recently uncovered by the undercover Goa'uld known as Tanith. While he hadn't realized that Tanith was killed several minutes ago, Apophis was certain that the Tok'ra resistance would be finished at the end of the week. However, all that changed when a group of nearly two thousand creatures rushed in through the Stargate and started killing his Jaffa.

Not just killing; the System Lord started in horror as the creatures ate the Jaffa. He saw his Jaffa firing staff plasma blasts at the creatures to no avail; the creatures kept on attacking like rabid animals. For the first time, the Goa'uld was terrified as he turned and ran towards the closest Tel'Tak instead of his Mother-ship at the end of the large field. He saw that his Jaffa were scattered as they ran towards their ships, while others opened fire. He heard the sounds of the staff weapons and the Zats being fired, followed by bloodcurdling screams. He watched, out of the corner of his eyes, as the creatures attacked the Jaffa who were nearly at their respective ships while a few creatures rushed into the HA'tak class vessels roaring out loud. Apophis rushed into the tel'tak and pressed the button to close the door just as twenty Jaffa were begging him to wait, to save them. He stood at the door and watched them get torn apart by six of the creatures, while one of the larger creatures rushed towards the closing door of the Tel'tak. Apophis pressed the botton to close the door, and then rushed to the cockpit and sat at the pilot's seat. The ship's engines then hummed to life as the six creatures tore apart the Jaffa who were running to the tel'tak.

As the ship rose into the air, it listed sideways while the larger creature forced itself in by pushing the door back open; a door that closed shut after it entered the rear compartment.

"No," said Apophis as he looked over his shoulder at the black scaled creature. It roared at him as he pressed a button to seal the creature in the rear compartment. A door slid down shut as it separated the compartment from the cockpit. Apophis then turned the ship around while compensating for the extra weight in the back. He saw the two thousand black scaled creatures, under the cover of night, killing and eating his Jaffa while hearing screames from the subspace radios of the Ha'tak class vessels and his Mothership begging for help before the lines were cut. None of them even managed to fire off the ship-borne plasma weapons before they were torn to pieces on the bridge of each ship. He could hear the loud bloodcurdling screams from the ground even through the hull of the ship as he pulled up and enabled maximum thrust. The ship shot up into the sky.

The Goa'uld's plan was to open the main door in the rear compartment once in orbit. The oxygen would then escape, and kill the creature. However, upon hearing the loud 'bangs' from behind him, Apophis looked over his shoulder at the door as it started to dent inwards after several punches from the larger female Nocturna. His eyes went wide as the creature roared before throwing one last punch, ending with the door falling forward just behind Apophis' seat.

"I am a god!" yelled Apophis as the creature pulled back its head, and then released a mighty roar that showed off all of its sharp teeth. Apophis saw the razor sharp claws prepared to strike at him. He saw how some of his Jaffa died in pain screaming out for him… but he had no idea who he would scream for.

Just then, an idea came to his head. If he had to die.. he wasn't going to die alone. He was going to make sure that the Earth was terrorized by this creature. He then reached forward and input coordinates into the computer just as the creature roared again. However, in his panic and as his arms trembled in fear, he heard the swish of the claws being raised behind him, the Goa'uld input the wrong coordinates on Earth. All he knew, as he looked back at the creature after pressing the button that threw the ship into hyperspace, was that the SGC would be called to investigate… and they would die. Especially SG-1. He knew in his gut that this one creature would be able to kill a planet if need be.

His recalled his army of thirty three thousand Jaffa fired plasma weaponry and Zats at the two thousand creatures. He saw that the Zat blasts had no effect, and while the plasma blasts from the staff weapons did manage to push back and daze the creatures that were hit, they simply got up much angrier and leapt to the Jaffa who were firing the blasts. He remembered their screams of terror through the hull as they were almost immediately overrun. Based on what he had seen, Apophis knew that Earth had no chance with their primitive weapons.

Back on the ship, the creature swung its arm downwards at an angle and sliced the man's head into five pieces which fell onto the floor of the cockpit. The Nocturna roared in rage at the hyperspace tunnel in front of it before it reached down and tore off Apophis; arm, and bit into it. It didn't know where it was going, but the Nocturna hoped there would be food to satiate its appetite.

Vorash and Apophis's planet weren't the only ones being attacked, there were several other simultaneous attacks throughout the Goa'uld empire with thousands of Nocturna coming out of the Stargates. The Nocturna had truly returned, and no one was safe. Especially since the various female Nocturna, having had their fill, were ready to mate.

The Nocturna were increasing in population, and they were famished. And the knowledge gained from the Goa'uld and Tok'ra would bring them to new worlds to sate their hunger.

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

**Stargate Command, 0940 hours.**

"Unscheduled off world activation!" exclaimed Walter, one of the SGC's technicians, while he placed his palm down on the scanner to activate the Iris. The device closed around the opening of the ring just as General Hammond, who was briefing SG-1 on their next mission to oversee the 'loan' of the Ha'tak class ship they stole from Cronus after he was killed, rushed down the metal stairs from the briefing room right above the Control Room. Colonel O'Neal, the leader of SG-1, was right behind him, followed by the rest of the team, as the General asked Walter is any one was due back from their off-world missions.

"None, sir," said Walter as he looked at the screen, "it's General Carter's IDC."

"Open the Iris," said the General as Major Sam Carter rushed down the stairs leading away from the Control Room to the adjoining hallway, as the Iris opened. Once General Carter was given the go ahead to walk through the gate, Major Carter stood at the bottom of the ramp with Daniel and Teal'c as the bald man stumbled through the gate and grabbed onto the railing at the side of the ramp.

"Close the Iris! Now!" yelled the General as Major Carter, with eyes wide at the state of her father; the man slipped onto the floor of the ramp with one hand on the lower railing as the Iris engaged, and the Stargate was deactivated.

"Dad?" asked the Major as she rushed up the ramp and went down on one knee. She had missed the blood on the bottom of his boots, she was stunned at the paled face looking back at her, and placed a hand in the panting man's shoulder. He then looked up at her before puling her in for a tight hug with Daniel and Teal'c looking on.

"Jacob?" asked the General as he ran in with Colonel O'Neill. And from their vantage point, they were able to see the sand covered blood on the soles of his boots. General O'Neill turned to the glass window of the Control Room and yelled at Walter to contact the infirmary, and that he needed to call Dr. Fraiser. Walter nodded his head as the Major pulled back and looked at the terror in her father's eyes. She then looked down towards his boots, and noticed the blood which was mixed with grains of sand.

The Major then looked bac at her father, reached down and held his hand before asking, "dad, what happened? Was there a fight? Or…"

"Was the Tok'ra base on Vorash infiltrated, General Carter? Has Apophis launched an attack?" asked Teal'c

"They're all dead," whispered the General in his own voice as he looked at his daughter, and then at the others, before looking back at his daughter again, "all of them. At.. at least I think so. So much blood on the floor, the walls… I…"

"General Carter," asked Teal'c as the man looked at him, "what has transpired in the Tok'ra base? Has Tanith betrayed all of the Tok'ra?"

The General shook his head and then looked down before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. When he opened them back up, the Major saw them glow for a second. Indicating that the Tok'ra symbiote had taken over.

" **Hello, Samatha, General, Colonel, Daniel, and Teal'c. I apologize for interrupting Jacob. But he… we have seen something that has traumatised us both."**

" **Selmak,"** said General Hammond **, "what's going on?"**

" **As far as I am able to ascertain, the entire base has been killed,"** said Selmak while the others looked on in shock as Dr. Fraiser rushed in with a gurney and two nurses. However, as the Major stepped back while Teal'c and the Colonel helped Selmak up to his feet, the symbiote continued talking. **"No, killed would be an over-simplification. We saw these… these creatures eating them. So…"**

"What?" asked a stunned Daniel as even Dr. Fraiser stopped mid-way while helping the General onto the gurney.

" **We have not seen any body on the surface. It could be prudent to say that Tanith was eaten as well, both the host and the symbiote,"** said Selmak **, "as was… I am so sorry, Samantha. Lantesh and Martouf were partly eaten as well."**

"Oh dear God," said a stunned Major as she placed her hands over her mouth. She looked at her father's expression hoping that this was a joke; that maybe it was something else her father and Selmak could have seen. However, she then noticed the looks on both the Colonel and Daniel turned to confusion when Selmak said that both Freya and Anise were dead as well.

"All dead. Dear God, they were eaten," said General Carter after taking over from Selmak. He then looked up at the surprised Major, and then at the General while saying he and Selmak had never seen or heard of creatures like the ones he had seen. He said that the partly eaten bodies were everywhere, and that even though he fired the Zat guns at the creatures… they still kept on coming at him.

"Zat's don't affect them?" asked General Hammond as the older Carter shook his head.

"Four hundred Tok'ra," said General Carter shaking his head as Major Carter helped him to lie down on the gurney, "four hundred… I.. I couldn't check on the rest. But… but judging from what I saw, so much death.

"General Hammond," said the Colonel, "I'd like to have SG-1 ready for a…"

"No!" said the General as he grabbed Major Carter's hand, "no… no…"

"Dad," said the Major gently as she patted his shoulder while he stared at her, "dad, it's alright. We're taking all precautions, and…"

"They're like animals," said the General as his eyes glowed once again and Selmak took over.

" **Jacob is terrified, Samantha,"** said Selmak as he let go of her hand and lay down on the bed calmly while looking at her and then at General Hammond. **"General, I suggest that we debrief you and SG-1 following our medical examination. In the meantime, I recommend we quarantine Vorash…. Perhaps one of your probes could be sent through the Stargate with a message that all craft must not land on the planet."**

"Are you expecting more Tok'ra to return to Vorash?" asked General Hammond.

" **Yes,"** was the reply, **"the Tok'ra agents know the protocol for quarantine- They must leave for one of our safe worlds. For right now, I suggest we wait until we can debrief you when we are calm."**

"Yeah," said a panting General Carter as he looked up at the Major, "sorry about the whole…"

"We can wait for your briefing Jacob," said General Hammond patting his shoulder, "in the meantime, we'll just send a MALP."

"Thanks," said General Carter before he was wheeled away with Major Carter by his side.

"Get the MALP ready, Colonel," said General Hammond before taking off behind General Carter, "if there was something chasing Jacob, I want to know exactly what it was that he saw."

It would be thirty minutes later that a MALP was sent through the Stargate. However, the camera on the small vehicle didn't find any creatures on the surface while it started to blare a warning asking all Tok'ra ships to stay away. General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill, Daniel, and Teal'c were looking through the monitors at the view out of the MALP's camera as it swept the surrounding area for any danger.

However, it found nothing on the surface, except for the Cargo ship that General Carter had used. General Hammond wanted to check out what was going on, but the look of fear on General Carter's face told him to hold off on sending a team through the Stargate and examine what happened on Vorash. The General told Walter to activate the Stargate every hour so that they could examine the area once again, and download the footage of the preceding hour.

It would be several hours after the medical examination, and following a long respite, that General Carter felt he was mentally capable of debriefing them. While Walter and the others still hadn't seen anything unusual in the data gathered by the MALP, SG-1 and General Hammond listened in stunned silence as General Carter and Selmak described the scene in the Tok'ra base. After the man had finished briefing them at about eighteen hundred hours, which was also about the time the sun had set past the horizon on Vorash, Walter rushed up the stairs with his eyes wide open.

"Sirs, ma'am," said Walter as he looked at the group, "ummm…. We picked some.. something up on the MALP that you should see." General Carter looked at Walter and asked what it was that he had seen. "You… you need to see this, sir."

The group then rushed down the stairs behind Walter who took his seat, and then pressed a few buttons before act the screens above them activated to show the nearly darkened surface of Vorash. They watched as the rings deposited creatures they hadn't seen before onto the surface in flashes of white light. General Carter held tight to the stunned Major's hand as several creatures walked towards the MALP, one of them walked while tearing off the flesh from a dismembered leg before throwing it onto the surface.

"What the hell?" asked Colonel O'Neill as one a few creatures, out of the forty or so on the surface, started to nudge the MALP, while others growled and nudged the camera looking back at them. Major Carter nearly jumped back when the creature looking through the camera growled and the then released a loud roar revealing rows of sharp and bloody teeth. They could see the blood on the mouth, some of it having spattered on the camera lens, before it pulled back and started to slash the MALP with its sharp claws.

Eventually they saw the MALP's picture shaking with growls and roars in the background before falling to its side as more of the creatures tried to slash into it. The video soon fizzled out as the pictures on the screens turned to snow.

"That's what I saw," said General Carter nodding his head, "I saw only a few of them. The rest must have been inside the complex."

"And you have no idea, Jacob?" asked Daniel, "I mean about what they are?"

"No," he replied, "but I hoped you might."

However, before they could continue talking with Daniel prepared to say that they had absolutely no idea of this creature's identity, Walker heard a beeping sound from another computer. He pressed a button, and was directly connected to the NORAD facility above the SGC. And what he saw worried him as he turned back to the group behind him and said, "a hyperspace window opened near the moon, sirs."

"The Asgard?" asked the two General's together while Major Carter stepped up next to Walter, leaned down, and pressed a few buttons before turning back to the screen which showed a line heading from the moon, towards a section of California. She then looked at the numbers at the edge of the screen and said that the ship was small, and that it wasn't slowing down as it headed for the planet.

"It's about the size of a cargo ship," said the Major before turning to the computer which now zoomed in towards the ocean and the city nearby, "it's heading for the coast of Sunnydale. It'll splashdown four miles out."

"How long?" asked General Hammond.

"Five minutes," said the Major as she looked back at the base commander and then back at the screen.

"Walter," said General Hammond tapping on the technician's shoulder, "contact the nearest Naval base. I want that area quarantined. In the meantime, I want Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill to supervise the recovery of the ship. We need to know if there are any survivors, and why they came to Earth in such an uncontrolled manner."

"Understood, sir," said Colonel O'Neill.

"Dr. Jackson, Teal'c, Jacob I'd like for you to go through whatever we have on the Goa'uld," General Hammond said turning to the archaeologist, "I want to know if this is some kind of a Goa'uld bio-weapon, maybe…"

"The Tok'ra would have known about it, George," said General Carter, "I've sifted through Selmak's memories, and there is nothing about this creature."

"There has to be some record of this creature, Jacob," said General Hammond, "maybe there's some secret research the Goa'uld's been conducting. I mean the Tok'ra couldn't be everywhere at once, Jacob."

"I'll help Daniel," General Carter nodded his head, hoping that General Hammond was right and that these creatures were a bio-weapon created by the Goa'uld. 'A bio-weapon that's gone out of control.'

"Sir," said the Colonel as she looked back at the group, "the ship's entering the atmosphere."

"Colonel, Major, head on out," said the General, "there will be a plane waiting for you in Petersons."

"Yes, sir," said Colonel O'Neill as he and the Major quickly left, while Teal'c, Daniel, and General Carter headed out to sift through all the information that they had on the Goa'uld.

"And I'll call the President," said the General as the ship was beginning to enter the atmosphere.

 **Sunnydale Memorial, 2000 hours.**

Ben Wilkinson was an intern nurse in Sunnydale Memorial Hospital. The literal human half of the hell-god known as Glory, the young man was in the basement of the hospital with several mystical items performing a ritual. Given that his 'sister' sated her hunger by absorbing the mental energies of regular human beings, it left them insane. And the number of people with this affliction grew ten fold over the past few months, so much so that three entire rooms in the Mental Ward were taken up by these rambling people.

He needed a way to clean up the mess that Glory created, and as he finished the ritual, he smiled when he realized that the Queller demon he summoned with be landing on Earth from a rift close to the moon. It opened momentarily, and released a hollow shell that shot towards the Earth.

However, neither NORAD nor the SGC were able to detect the hollow shell as it slammed into the atmosphere and fell towards Sunnydale. It would be nearly twenty minutes later that a hyperspace tunnel opened up and a Tel'tak cargo ship shot out. Willow and Tara, who were lying on the roof of their dorm, saw the meteor crashing down to Earth twenty minutes ago. They quickly got up to their feet and rushed back to their room after seeing the general direction of where it landed, however they missed the Tel'tak that screamed overhead much later.

The female Nocturna was screaming in rage as the Goa'uld ship fell through the atmosphere. A few minutes later, the ship was speeding towards its target destination. The female Nocturna was looking around at the controls and shook its head before looking down at the half eaten head of Apophis in its hand. The Nocturna snarled at the head of the Goa'uld system lord before throwing it down to the floor of the vessel. It then sifted through the knowledge it absorbed from the Goa'uld and looked around the console. The Nocturna hated ships, they had a rudimentary understanding of how to fly the vessels since they had the knowledge of the Alterra and the Goa'uld in their heads, but they preferred travelling through the Stargates. It was the smell of blood that they preferred, the feel of their claws cutting a body down, the feel of their teeth shredding flesh. They wanted to hear the screams of their prey as they died.

The Nocturna knew they wouldn't be able to feel any of that if they simply bombarded the planet. The female nocturna accessed the memories, and then looked back over its shoulder at the cream coloured vertical tubes at the end of the cargo bay.

And a smile developed on its face as the sound of air whizzed outside while the ship was making an uncontrolled descent two miles away from the beach just outside Sunnydale. The Nocturna entered the pod, and then closed the door… taking a last lingering look at the bloody bones that were on the floor before closing the pod door. It then looked around in the dark before pressing a button.

The ship shot just past the meteor crash site. However Tara and Willow, who were accompanied by Giles, Xander, Riley, and Anya weren't able to see it from their vantage point on the ground since they were surrounded by trees. However, they did hear a screeching sound in the distance made by the Cargo ship as it continued its descent towards the ocean. Not wanting to speculate on the sound, the Scoobies then looked down at the dead body at their feet, and then at the location of the meteorite impact.

In the meantime, the female Nocturna howled as the pod fell out of the bottom of the ship, and down towards Sunnydale.

It would be a few minutes later that the cargo ship crashed into the sea while the escape pod itself used gravity generators to slow its descent as it sped towards the ground. Eventually, it crashed into a graveyard in the dead of night. With the soil settling after the pod hit the ground, the door jettisoned off the pod, and the Nocturna stepped onto the green grass and looked around as it felt the warm breeze brush against its black, armoured scales.

The Nocturna looked around with its red eyes at the rustling leaves of the gently swaying trees that were all around the graveyard. The Nocturna then sniffed the scents that were being carried in the breeze, and drool dribbled out the side of its mouth. The creature smelled thousands of humans nearby, and they were all its food source.

There were no other Nocturna to share this food source with, and so… the female was going to have its fill… it was going to take its time in hunting, and then killing its prey. Thinking of all the food, the Nocturna smiled… showing off its razor-sharp teeth. It took a step forward, fully intending to run at the humans it could smell kilometers away. However, it suddenly stopped as it sniffed the air again. A smile appeared on its lips as it turned to its left and, in the darkness around it, focused its eyes on the building in the distance.

Not only did it smell the scent of new-borns, it also recognized the scent of the new-born baby that was denied her over twenty years ago. And the scent was joined by the scent of the woman who was running with the new-born baby. The female Nocturna remembered both the baby, and the woman carrying her, vanishing all of a sudden. The Nocturna had her meal taken away from her that night, but not tonight.

Tonight, it was going to enjoy eating the baby and the woman. However, the Nocturna would kill anyone in the way… and then return to take the bodies away for her meal before the sun rose into the sky.

Releasing a snarl, the Nocturna then started to run towards the hospital; it's nostrils locked onto the scents of the baby and the woman; both Buffy and Joyce respectively.

And then it released a loud roar.

 **Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, ten minutes later.**

Ben was walking toward his beat-up car in the quiet Sunnydale Memorial Hospital parking lot. He had finished summoning the Queller demon to get rid of the mental patients. His task was done. All he wanted to do was go back home and relax. However, there was a part of his human self that knew it was very likely that Glory would take over his body and return to her pent-house. Shaking his head while chuckling at how angry Glory would be at her 'brother' getting rid of her handwork, the intern opened the door to his car. It was then that he heard a swoosh sound from behind him. He turned, fully expecting it to be one of the other nurses opening the rear exit when he suddenly heard a loud scream from inside the car's back-seat. Before he could look back, he saw rapid movement out of the corner of his right eye just before a sharpened claw went through the bottom of his skull, and through his mouth, and his neck, and finally his brain.

Ben knew he was human. He knew that if he died, then Glory would die as well… he had known this for years. But he always thought that he would die another way. Not by a demon who roared into his face as his vision got dark. And he was lucky. Ben didn't feel the Nocturna cut his head off, and then throw it down to the ground. As the headless body crumbled to the ground, the Nocturna then smashed its hand through the glass window and into the rear passenger seat before grabbing a screaming misshapen creature. The Nocturna didn't like the scent of the misshapen creature, nor did it like the screams hitting the holes at the sides of its head… its ears. The Nocturna snapped the neck of the creature and then realised its hold as it fell back on the seat.

The Nocturna had left a trail of forty dead bodies between the graveyard and the hospital parking lot, bodies that it would be gathering once the baby and the woman were killed. From one of the brains it had eaten, the Nocturna knew that the sun would be coming up in a few hours. So it needed to find a place to live before the sun rose. And of course, it also needed to bring back the bodies for its meal. It then sniffed the air, and smelled Buffy and Joyce's scent mixed with hundreds of other patients and visitors. It also did smell two additional scents near Buffy and Joyce. One was human, but the other one wasn't. It narrowed its eyes in rage at something else trying to go after Buffy and Joyce, the Nocturna was so enraged that it slammed its left foot down on Ben's head, squashing it before releasing a roar. It then headed towards the hospital entrance.

The Nocturna ran around the corner and came across several patients who then ran as fast as they could the other way. It wanted to go after them, but the scent of the two people it was denied pulled it away The Nocturna stepped into the large lobby and looked at the stunned people who were, in turn, looking back at it. With blood dripping from its claws, the Nocturna pulled its arms back and roared before watching the humans scream and run away. The Nocturna already had bodies just waiting to be retrieved after it found a lair where it could settle down for the day. It looked at all the body's running, and knew that it could be able to kill all of them in under a minute.

However, for right now, it wanted Buffy and Joyce. As the Nocturna took another step into the lobby… six shots rang out as the creature felt something impact its body.

With the screams, all around the lobby, the Nocturna turned to its left and glared at three people in uniform carrying what seemed to be weapons in their hands. The weapons were pointed at it, and all three of them had smoke rising into the air from the barrels. The Nocturna looked down at the six flattened bullets that were stuck to its body. It dug the bullets out from some of its dented, and slightly cracked, scales and then threw it onto the floor before roaring at them. The security guards then fired more rounds, some of which hit the Nocturna and made it take a few steps back while screaming in rage. While the bullets were lodged into the scales, cracking them slightly, the Nocturna leaped forward and killed all three of them mercilessly.

In the end their ripped bodies lay on the floor in a pool of blood. Not wanting to waste any more time, the blood covered Nocturna headed for the open doors to the staircase, and it rushed up following the scent it craved.

 **Sunnydale Memorial, five minutes earlier.**

Buffy was a Slayer; one girl in all the world given the will and strength to fight vampires and hold back the legions of evil. But as she and her sister, Dawn, finished packing their mother's belongings in the hospital room, she felt helpless. Joyce had been diagnosed with a tumour which was due to be operated on the next day. However, she felt restless sand wanted to go home. So Buffy convinced the doctor in charge of her mother's care to let her and Dawn take Joyce home.

And that's where they were going. Home.

As Buffy walked out of the room with her mother and Dawn, she glanced at the older blonde and was met with a wave of fear. She didn't know what the future held for her and Dawn in case anything happened to Joyce. Buffy was a warrior, and she wished that she could punch out the tumour as the three of them walked into the hallway. The then made a left and continued to walk while Dawn held onto Joyce's hand. Buffy was looking at her mother while the woman was telling Buffy and Joyce that she was glad to be out of the room, and going home. The Slayer smiled while the three of them turned right to another hallway and walked straight into the waiting room.

They then made a right into the waiting room and towards the desk at the end so that they could check-out of the room, and talk to Joyce's doctor for one last time before leaving. Buffy was standing to Joyce's right, while Dawn was to the older woman's left as she looked at the nurse reach into a drawer for several forms. In the meantime, Buffy and Joyce were thanking the doctor for letting the latter go home for the night. In the meantime, none of them noticed the creature, the Queller demon, that was eyeing Joyce.

The demon itself was attracted to Joyce's illness, and it wanted to feed. However, it suddenly felt fear upon hearing a roar. It looked behind and slithered off to find cover. While the demon went away, Buffy turned around and thought she heard a distant roar over her sister joking with the uninterested nurse, and Joyce signing some paperwork. Buffy shook her head and thought it was her imagination. She turned to Joyce, and placed a hand on her back while looking down at what her mother was writing.

Then there was another loud roar, during this time the Nocturna entered the lobby of the hospital. Buffy then turned around, definitely sure she heard the roar.

As did the Doctor, the nurses behind the desk, Joyce and Dawn.

It was then that a voice sounded over the Public-Address system asking everyone to leave the building in an orderly fashion, "please take all emergency exits and…."

Buffy, a worried Joyce, and Dawn continued listening to the announcement as security guards ran past them towards the hallway several feet in front of them. They then turned right into a hallway and towards the elevator lobby. In the meantime, the doctor walked past Buffy and the others while telling them to follow him and the nurses out of the waiting room through the emergency exit at the end of the hallway behind them.

Buffy told Joyce and Dawn to follow the Doctor and nurses. She explained that she'd go and check out what was happening. However, she stopped talking once gun shots rang out from the elevator lobby, followed by human screams and an inhuman roar.

"Buffy!" cried Dawn.

"Doc," said Buffy as she looked at the terrified doctor, "take them, and go.. please… go!"

"Come on, and…" before the Doctor could say anything, everyone in the empty waiting room heard a 'splat' sound.

"Oh God!" said Joyce as a bloodied head was thrown into the wall from the hallway the Security Guards had gone through a moment ago. And then they saw a seven foot tall creature with clawed hands and black scales stride in through the hallway. Its body was covered in blood from the security guards who lay dead in the hallway and the elevator lobby.

Dawn screamed while Joyce stared at the creature that looked back at her. And then at her oldest daughter.

"Mom, Doc!" said Buffy before she rushed at the creature, "take Dawn, and go!"

"Buffy!" yelled Dawn as Joyce just stared with her eyes wide open. Buffy rushed at the creature who roared at her before swinging its claws towards Buffy's head. In the meantime, the Doctor pulled the nurses, Joyce, and Dawn into the hallway behind them and ran towards the door.

"Bufffyyyy!" yelled Dawn as she was pulled by one of the nurses while the Slayer ducked a swipe of the creature's claws. She then pulled back her arm while blocking another swipe before punching the creature in its chest. The Nocturna roared at the impact of the Slayer's fist as it stumbled back surprised at the strength of the child it so wanted to eat. The Nocturna had the scent of the older woman while Buffy continued to attack it. Before long, after taking several punches and kicks that flung the creature into walls several times. Smiling at the fight its prey was putting up, the Nocturna roared out loud at Buffy before it started to fight back.

While Buffy was fighting the creature, Joyce stopped at the red emergency door as she suddenly grabbed her head after another roar from the creature. She then heard the sound of something being slammed into the wall.

"Mrs. Summers!" said the doctor as Joyce leaned with an arm against a wall, while rubbing her forehead with her other hand and groaning in pain.

"Mom!" yelled Dawn as she ran to her mother while the doctor stood at the doorway; the other nurses having fled down the stairs.

"No… I…." mumbled Joyce as she had a flash of memory upon hearing another roar and a loud 'oof' from Buffy followed but another 'thud' against a wall. Joyce found herself looking at a smiling woman in a house, she looked down and found a baby in her arms. Joyce then remembered looking back up at the woman, and then at a man. Then Joyce had another memory of making love with the man several times, followed by the man being covered in blood while a creature, similar to the one that Buffy was fighting, killed him.

"Mom?" asked Dawn as Joyce looked back at her with tears in her eyes. She then turned around with a worried look on her face upon hearing another roar.

Joyce remembered the woman now. She was Caresa, her sister. Her dead sister. Joyce felt as if a dam had broken and memories flooding back into her mind a shse held on to Dawn's arm while tears ran down her cheeks at the sound of another roar.

"Mom?" asked Dawna s she looked at her mother's tears.

Joyce heard Dawn, but all she could do now was remember her mother lying dead on the floor of their house. Joyce remembered grabbing Caresa's arms as they ran out of the house, only to see these same creatures killing everyone in their village. As Joyce remembered running through a field, Joyce saw Buffy flying over the desk and slamming into the wall. Joyce's eyes went wide as Buffy slowly go onto her feet while staring at her.

"Mom," Buffy wheezed as she slowly got up. Joyce heard the creature roar again as Dawn screamed for Buffy from behind her. However, the screamed faded into the background as Joyce watched her bruised older daughter…. In reality her niece… slowly get up to her feet while the Nocturna grabbed the table and tore it off the floor before flinging it away casually. Joyce saw the creature, which had red blood trickling down the side of its mouth, and several cracks on the scales around its body, kick Buffy in the abdomen. The hard kick caused Buffy to scream before she was flying through the air, slamming into the wall which cracked, and then falling back onto the floor with blood trickling from bruises on her body and out the side of her mouth.

Joyce heard Buffy scream in pain before she got up on all fours again.

And just as the monster attempted to kick her again, Buffy grabbed the leg with trembling hands while the creature looked Buffy gripping its leg tight with trembling hands. The older woman swore that a smile appeared on the face of the creature just before Buffy pushed the leg away, and then kicked out at the creature. Buffy yelped as she felt a pull in her leg, but the impact of her foot on the creature's chest pushed it back.

"Go!" yelled Buffy at Joyce whose feet were stuck to the ground as the creature jumped back into the fray. Buffy stepped back, avoiding a swipe from the claws, as Joyce remembered running through the field carrying the crying Artemis. She remembered looking back at Caresa who was brought down. She remembered watching her sister die before turning around and running away.

And then she remembered the woman in white who saved her life.

She remembered everything… she remembered the monks of Dagon. And that's when her real memories stopped. She remembered her real past, as well as her past – a past that she now knew was fiction. And suddenly, the throbbing in her head.. the restlessness she felt was gone. She watched as Buffy hit the creature, and then it slashed her. This continued until it grabbed her arm and then swung her against a wall while Dawn screamed. Joyce looked back and could see that they was now alone, the doctor and the nurses already long gone.

"Dawnie," said Joyce as she grabbed the keys in her pocket and handed them to Dawn. "Get the car, and drive it to the emergency exit door, honey."

"No…"

"Please, go!" yelled Joyce as Dawn started at her and then at Buffy who had the creature standing over her, "go! I'm depending on you to save us. Start the car, and drive over to the door you'll be running out off. Ok. Please, go."

"But…"

"Go!" yelled Joyce before Dawn ran down the four flights of stairs. Once the door was closed shut, Joyce turned around to see the Nocturna pull back its arm as Buffy was trying to get up. "Hey!"

Joyce rushed to the riser on the wall and grabbed a fire extinguisher as the Nocturna turned towards her. She then pulled the pin as per the instructions while staring at the creature, doing her best to hide her terror as she remembered her entire village murdered, remembering her dead mother, her father, her dead lover, and her dead sister. She glanced at her daughter… her only niece… and then looked back at the creature while her heart pounded in her chest. She then aimed the muzzle of the fire extinguisher at the creature.

"Stay away from her!" yelled Joyce as she pressed the lever down and the foam exploded outward from the muzzle. The Nocturna screamed in rage at the sheer cold of the fire extinguisher and the fact that the foam stung its eyes as it stumbling back screeching out in pain. It was a second later that Buffy slowly got up before grabbing the extinguisher from her mother. She and Joyce stepped back while firing the foam before she threw the empty canister at the creature. They then ran towards the emergency door while the Nocturna had its eyes closed while swinging its claws wildly. The two women opened the door, and rushed down the stairs while the Nocturna was roaring in rage as it tried to get its bearings.

As Joyce held Buffy's hand and rushed down the stairs, the sound of the roars and thrashing of the Nocturna fell eerily quiet in the stairwell. All she could hear were their footsteps, and their breathing. Shaking her head, Joyce thought back to running away with Artemis as she wailed out loud in her arms.

She glanced at the injured Buffy as they reached the second-floor landing and her heart swelled with pride at the young woman Buffy had become, and Joyce's heart was also heavy with worry on what Buffy would say when she heard the truth about her heritage; that her real mother was dead.

But Joyce pushed that to the back of her mind as she and Buffy exited the building and saw a car being driven towards them. The both of them ran towards the car while they watched the gathered doctors, nurses, visitors, and personnel in the parking lot. Some were crying, some just stood still in shock while the nurses and doctors watched over them.

The both of them also saw two police vans with the words SWAT written on them, while several other police cars with their lights flashing were parked. It seemed to Joyce that they were discussing plans on getting into the building. However, she didn't want to stop and warn them. First of all, she was sure that they wouldn't believe her and Buffy. Secondly, everyone stopped talking once they heard the loud roar from the fourth floor.

"GO! Go! GO! GO!" yelled Joyce as Dawn climbed to the back seat through the gap between the two front seats. Joyce took her driver seat while Buffy slammed the passenger seat door and Joyce pressed the accelerator down. The car went in reverse as the people in the parking lot started to scream and run in all directions. The police were about ready to go into the building while the others patients and guests were either running out of the hospital parking lot or getting into their cars when Joyce turned the Jeep around and shifted into 'drive'. It was just then that the emergency door swung open and the Nocturna ran out roaring at the Jeep that was being driven away.

It heard Dawn scream as the vehicle got out of the parking lot. The Nocturna was about to follow when it was hit with a hail of gunshots. The Nocturna roared as one bullet hit it after another, some cracking the scales that acted as a suit of armour. Before the scales could crack any further, the Nocturna leaped into the group of police officers and SWAT.

And it was lucky that Dawn, Joyce, and Buffy didn't see the aftermath.

"Mom," wheezed Buffy as she grabbed the side of her arm, bleeding from the Nocturna slashing the flesh, "I need to get back there. That.. that demon's going to kill and…"

"Not now, Buffy," said Joyce as she turned into another street while the roar from the hospital vanished in the distance. The Nocturna stood covered in the blood of the police officers it ripped to shreds while the other human around it ran in all directions for dear life. The Nocturna licked the blood and flesh off its claws and roared out loud into the night air. It then pulled back and smelled the air hoping to acquire the scent of its prey. It then started running as fast as it could after Buffy's scent which was disappearing quickly.

A few minutes later, the scent was gone. But it wasn't going to stop the female Nocturna. It would use the cover of night to hunt for Buffy and Joyce. It was obsessed with the two who escaped it, again.

"Mom," said Dawn as the older woman glanced at her through the rear-view mirror and then stared back at the road in front of her, "where are we going?"

"I don't know, honey," said Joyce who simply wanted to drive as far as possible. Her main priority was her two children, Dawn and Buffy. She then glanced at the terrified Dawn again and reassured her that things were going to be fine. Joyce felt, for the first time in months, clear headed as she continued to drive as fast as possible while police cars sped past her in the other direction heading towards the hospital. As she drove, Joyce couldn't help but remember seeing a greening glow around Dawn, and a feeling that she wasn't supposed to be in her life. Joyce wanted to talk about this with Buffy, but thought it would be better to have that discussion at a later time.

"Maybe Giles will know what this demon's all about," said Buffy as she saw the blood on her hands from the gashes on her arm, "and maybe he can help fix me up."

"Is he at home?" asked Joyce.

"He should be," groaned Buffy as she put pressure on her bleeding arm while bruises started to develop all over her body.

"How about Riley?" asked Dawn.

"He should be with Giles and the others," said Buffy before turning to her mother, "maybe we go home and call them, mom?"

"Yea," Joyce yelped shaking her head as she remembered Caressa in their home back on _. She didn't want to think about home while one of the creatures that murdered her entire village was on Earth. 'It's on Earth. How did it get here? How did it find Buffy, Dawn, and me? How?'

"Mom?" asked Dawn as Joyce turned onto another street and continued driving towards their home which was ten minutes away.

"Buffy," said Joyce, "where's Riley?"

"I.. I have to call him when we get home," said Buffy.

"And this is why we need to get cell phones," quipped Dawn as she looked at her bleeding sister. She then shimmied forward, and placed her hand on Buffy's shoulder telling her that everything was going to be alright.

It was several minutes later that Joyce's jeep was parked in the driveway and Dawn rushed out of the Jeep and ran up the walkway to the porch while Joyce helped Buffy out of the passenger seat. The three of them then opened the door and headed into the house where Joyce asked Dawn to get the First Aid kit in the kitchen. In the meantime, Joyce turned on the lights and sat the injured Buffy down at the dining table. It was only now that she was able to see the full extent of Buffy's bruising on her face, and her other injures.. especially the blood soaked sleeve of her blouse.

As Dawn rushed into the kitchen, she heard a sound coming from the basement after she reached the island.

"Buffy!" yelled Dawn as she ran back toward the Slayer who stood up and rushed to her sister, just as the basement door opened and a figure stepped out.

"Spike?" asked an incredulous Buffy as she looked at the vampire.

"Slayer?" said Spike as he rubbed the back of his head, and then he looked at the open basement door, and then back at the Slayer. Buffy, for her part, looked at the jacket in his hand before asking him if he was trying to steal her clothes.

"And ewwwww," exclaimed Buffy before she winched in pain.

"What happened?" asked Spike as he looked at Buffy being taken away by Joyce while she ordered Dawn to contact Riley.

"A demon attacked us at the hospital," said Dawn as she picked up the phone and dialled Riley's number while Joyce started work on Buffy's injury.

"What demon?" asked Spike as he listened to the rapid heartbeats of the three women.

"Never saw anything like it before," Buffy said as Joyce nodded her head.

"Riley," said Dawn as she spoke on the phone her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face now that they were relatively safe, "can you come to our house? Please… quick. We were attacked by a demon at the hospital and... and please, just come to our house. Quick." Dawn then put the phone down while telling Joyce and the others that he was on the way.

"Now, can someone please tell me what's going on?" asked Spike.

 **Stargate Command, twenty minutes later.**

"The aftermath of the attack by the unknown animal has caused the deaths of fourteen civilians, thirty police officers from the Sunnydale police department, and seven security guards from Sunnydale Memorial," the reporter on the television said as General Hammond watched the live transmission on TV. It had been nearly ten minutes since Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter left the SGC and head out towards Peterson Air Base to catch their flight to Sunnydale.

Twenty minutes after Buffy and her family explained to Spike, and then to Riley, about what had just happened to them, General Hamond received a call from the Pentagon. He was asked by the Chairman of the Joint chiefs to turn on the news. The man then rushed out of his office and went down the stairs to the control room. There he asked Walter to turn to the news on any channel.

It was then that he, Walter, and several others saw the report form Sunnydale Memorial on the massacre that occurred there. There was even grainy footage from the security camera's in the lobby showing a creature murdering people. It then showed the creature attacking a young woman who was flung into one of the security camera's which then fizzled out, and the last bit was the scene of the creature murdering the police officers and several other patients and guests before rushing off.

"Get me the President and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs," said General Hammond as everyone watched the screen. "Call Petersons. I want the flight delayed."

"Sir?" asked Walter while another officer called the White House.

"Tell Dr. Jackson, General Carter, and Teal'c to meet me in the briefing room," said the General, "Walter, notify the Sunnydale Army base to expect SG-1 in four hours."

"Understood, sir," said Walter before calling the three men to the briefing room while the General spoke to the President and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs.

While the General was talking on the phone confirming the creature on the screen was the same alien that appeared on the video from the MALP on Vorash, the Stargate on the planet known as Delmak activated. It was Apophis' new homeworld after escaping from Netu, and then taking over Sokar's Jaffa after killing the Goa'uld who modelled himself on the Devil.

Once the wormhole stabilized, the surrounding Jaffa looked on at the blue event horizon. Their looks of curiosity turn to horror when thousands of the Nocturna poured through the device. What followed after the Stargate deactivated were screams of terror.

It would be hours later that the Stargates on several other worlds activated; one of which included Abydos as the stars shone in the clear sky.

TBC.


	3. Chapter 3

**Stargate Command, a few minutes later.**

Both General Carter and Selmak were astonished upon hearing one of the creatures that murdered hundreds of Tok'ra was on Earth, in the city of Sunnydale. He turned to a concerned Daniel, and then to Teal'c who asked if it was possible to reach Sunnydale faster than using conventional aircraft. General Hammond shook his head before saying that the trip to the Sunnydale Army base would take nearly four hours.

"George," said General Carter, "from what I've seen, these things are killing machines. The people in Sunnydale are in danger if we don't get out there now. In four hours, we'll see hundreds, maybe thousands of deaths."

"All caused by one creature," Teal'c said with his hands behind his back.

"There has to be something we could do," said Daniel.

"George," said General Carter, "I need to contact one of the Tok'ra safe worlds, they may have a cargo ship that we could borrow. We can have it here in thirty minutes, pick up Daniel, Teal'c, Sam, and Jack from Petersons, and then head to Sunnydale in under five minutes."

"Do it," General Hammond nodded his head before General Carter asked Walter to dial a Stargate address. General Hammond then turned to Daniel and Teal'c and had them get ready. Once they left, he informed Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter on the plane. The General told them that and that both Daniel and Teal'c would be meeting them momentarily with their gear.

It would be two minutes later that the General managed to secure a cargo ship from the safe world. With General Hammond's permission, he then went through the Stargate while Daniel and Teal'c armed themselves.

On the safe world, the Stargate deactivated as the General was led to one of the three Cargo ships the Tok'ra used for reconnaissance missions to several Goa'uld held worlds. He told the two Tok'ra who accompanied him about what happened on Vorash. The two of them assured him, with shock evident on their faces, that any Tok'ra needing shelter would be welcome. The both of them then headed for the ring transporters that would bring them to the underground Tok'ra base while General Carter began a flight check.

The flight check lasted for five minutes, after which the ship took off under the hot tropical sunlight and entered hyperspace. It would be reaching its destination, Earth, in twenty minutes at full power.

 **The Summers Residence, Twenty minutes later.**

Teal'c and Daniel finished getting ready and then head back out to Peterson Air Base where they would meet Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. In the meantime, Buffy had her injuries tended to by Riley while Willow and Tara placed a magical barrier around the house that would keep out any demons.

They hoped the barrier would keep out the demon long enough for them to come up with a plan.

Joyce was watching Buffy wincing as Riley placed a bandage on her arm while Spike glared at Riley before looking away. Joyce saw what she believed to be jealousy on his face when Spike looked at her daughter before walking towards the living room with a scowl on his face. Once inside the living room, Joyce heard Xander ask him what he was still doing in the house. Joyce didn't want to hear the argument between Xander and Spike, arguments about why the vampire shouldn't be there even though there was a larger threat that was coming after them. Joyce turned around and walked into the kitchen and then out the back door. She was feeling stuffy in the house; the same alien monster that was part of the pack that killed her entire village was on Earth.

And Joyce felt sick as one thought went through her mind.

'It's come for us, for me and Buffy; for Gina and Artemis. It followed us, but how? How did it follow us resolve and why now?'

Joyce closed the door behind her and rushed onto the back porch and grabbed the wooden railing before leaning forward and releasing a sob. Memories rushed back into her mind as she remembered the look on her dead mother's face, the look Linton had on his face as he looked at her just before dying, and then she recalled the look on the face of Caresa. Joyce could not get that look out of her mind as she crumbled onto her knees while breaking out in sobs.

"Joyce, are you…" Giles opened the back door and looked on in surprise as Joyce turned and sat on the wooden floor while wiping tears from her eyes. After calming down, Joyce told Giles not to tell Buffy that she was crying. Giles nodded his head while they could hear Spike telling Xander, all the way from the living room, that he would rather see all of them die than be around them. Giles then shook his head before closing the door behind him and walked over to Joyce. He went down on one knee and asked, "are you alright?"

"Is… is Buffy alright?"

"She will be," answered Giles, "Joyce, I know this demon is…"

"We need to leave… leave Sunnydale. We need to…" Joyce whispered while shaking her head as she recalled the screams of those who died while she was running away with Artemis in her arms. Giles reached out and held her shaking hands. Joyce looked down at his hands holding onto hers, and then looked up into his eyes and told him that what they were facing wasn't a demon, "Rupert, it's not… I swear it is not what you, and buffy, and Spike, and Riley think it is. It's not a demon. We have to get as far away from here and…"

"Joyce," said Giles as he tried to calm down the woman, "Willow and Tara saw something fall to Earth. We went to investigate while you, Buffy, and Dawn were in the hospital. It was a hollow meteorite that we believe contained a demon from outer space. It's what's called a Queller demon, and…"

"Giles," said Joyce shaking her head. But Giles continued to gently speak, saying that they found a dead body in the woods near the landing site of the meteor. Joyce closed her eyes and hung her head while Giles explained that the Queller demon choked the man, who happened to be a mental patient who was sent home, with some sort of a liquid. At hearing that detail, Joyce then looked back up at Giles and asked if the body was intact.

"Yes," Giles nodded his head before continuing, "this Queller basically attacks people who are.. well… mentally ill. It kills them, and…"

"Rupert, listen to me," said Joyce, her eyes burning with desperation now. She wanted Giles to believe her, "what I'm about to tell you is something you can't tell Buffy. Not yet, not until I… I have the courage to tell it to her myself."

"Joyce…" Giles was about to continue when Joyce interrupted him by saying the last thing he ever expected to hear.

"Buffy and I are from another planet."

Giles just stared at Joyce with his eyebrows knitted together. He wanted to say something in the two seconds of silence before she continued saying that she and Buffy were born on Asherah. Joyce could see that Giles pushed her, even interrupting her by placing his hands on her shoulders before saying that the tumour in her brain was probably causing her to imagine another life far away from home. "People face mortality in different ways, Joyce. Buffy will take care of this demon, and then we'll bring you back to the hospital tomorrow for your surgery, and…."

"I'm feeling better that I ever felt, Rupert," said Joyce interrupting the man, "listen to me. Rupert, this isn't me having a nervous breakdown. I really was born on another planet. I had a mother, father, an older sister named Caresa. I…"

"Joyce," said Giles as he took off his glasses while the woman continued to speak.

"I loved a man named Linton," said Joyce who could see that she was losing Giles' confidence as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "He and Caresa were married, and I… I…."

"Joyce," he said sternly but in a whisper, "this…"

"Caresa and Linton had a baby," said Joyce as tears welled in her eyes again, "my niece…. My beautiful niece. Caresa gave her the name I suggested, Artemis. I held her in my arms when… when these monsters attacked. Rupert, I saw my mother die…. I saw Linton die. I was going to run to the next village with Caresa and a few others behind us. But…. Dear God… they died. Rupert, I saw my sister die at the hands these things. Men, women, and children all killed and…"

"Joyce," said Giles shaking his head, "you…"

"I was holding on to Artemis in my arms as we ran," Joyce said looking straight into Giles' eyes, "my sister died, and all I could do was run as fast as I could to the next village and warn my father and the other villagers. I remember Artemis crying, and I knew that she would never know her mother. And then… I… I tripped."

"Joyce," Giles was shaking his head before telling her that what she was explaining simply wasn't possible. However, there was something in her eyes, the seriousness of how she was describing her 'experiences', that made a very small part of his mind wonder if there was some grain of truth. Joyce was telling him that she was from another world and that she had seen these same creatures kill everyone in her village.

'However,' he thought to himself, 'even if what she says is true, and I have to believe that it is not, there's nothing to indicate how she got to Earth.'

And it was that exact detail that made Giles mostly doubt her story. At least until he told her about the woman in white, and what she did.

He listening stunned silence as Joyce said, "she brought me to a large room. There were banner and torches on the walls. I was crying, Artemis was crying, and… and… the woman in white told me that she couldn't bring the dead to life. She said that a child should never grow up without a mother, and then she called one of the men… well, I think they were monks. She asked one of them if they were monks from the Order of Dagon, and…"

"Did you.. did you say the Order of Dagon?" asked a very surprised Giles whose eyes were as wide as saucers.

"That's where I and Artemis were taken to by the woman," said Joyce as she noticed the stunned expression on Giles' face, "that's where my real memories end. And from there I remember my memories as Joyce. I remember giving birth to Buffy, I remember having Dawn... I remember their first steps and... and I remember all of that. But I also know that Buffy's Artemis. She's my sister's daughter, my niece, and…"

"Good Lord," breathed Giles as he looked at the closed door, beyond which was Buffy and the others, and then back at Joyce who was wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. He had never mentioned the of Dagon to Joyce, one of whom told Buffy the truth about Dawn being the Key. Giles was about to say something else when Tara rushed out the door and frantically called them back in.

"Spike's smelling some…"

It was then that everyone heard a loud roar in the distance. Joyce and Giles stood up, the both of them looking at each other while the man was wondering if everything Joyce had said was the truth. However, this was no time to have any discussions as Tara then led the two of them back into the house where a 'vamped' out Spike was telling Riley that he needed all the help he and the others could get.

"I'm smelling human blood, a lot of it," Spike snarled while Willow handed Buffy an axe, which the Slayer grabbed with her dominant right hand. Willow handed Riley and Xander some crossbows and their ammunition before returning to the weapons chest. Willow closed the top of the chest while an armed Buffy told her mother and Dawn to head down to the basement when, suddenly, Spike leapt at Willow after yelling at everyone to get back.

To Buffy, it was as if the world had slowed down. There was a cacophony of sounds as Spike snarled past her, and at the same time, the wall behind Willow seemed to explode inwards. Buffy felt her body taking a step towards the screaming Willow whose back was now towards the exploding wall. Buffy was just behind Spike, who was a few inches from her, as she prepared to leap towards the redhead. Buffy heard screams from behind her as claws slashed through the still flying debris of the shattered wall.

Buffy didn't see a screaming Dawn being pulled away by Riley, nor did he see Giles pulling away a tearful Joyce. She didn't see Anya pushed to the ground by Xander, who then rushed to Tara.

Buffy didn't see the anguish on Tara's face as she screamed the loudest of all. The Slayer saw the reason why Tara was screaming in anguish, the blonde Slayer saw the reason through shocked and tear filled eyes. Her heart raced as Tara screamed while Spike was swatted away by the Nocturna with its right hand.

The Vampire was flung onto the couch while Buffy stared at the blood soaked claws that had penetrated through Willow's chest.

"Willow?" asked Buffy, her face twisted in anguish. She mentally begged Willow to hear her, but the Slayer got no answer. The redhead was bleeding profusely from her chest and the sides of her mouth. Buffy looked into Willow's green eyes for any sign of life, but there was none; however, the Slayer still called out for her best friend.

"Willow?" begged a stunned Buffy for an answer. As she heard Tara's distant scream once again, Buffy knew it was over; that the worst had happened. "Willow!"

It was only a second ago that the Nocturnal searched for the scent of the baby it craved. Once it caught Buffy's scent, the Nocturna followed it to the house where it smelled more scents surrounding the very person it wanted. Licking its lips, the Nocturna went for the closest one; it turned out to be Willow. The Nocturna broke through the wall, and then rammed its claws into the back of the red-haired girl who had just handed a weapon to Xander. She had already turned away from the wall as it exploded inward after the Nocturna rammed through the wall. The creature then stabbed Willow's back, its claws piercing her vital organs, including her heart. As the redhead's heartbeat stopped, the Nocturna heard the screams all around it before focusing on it's blonde target holding a bladed weapon. It then looked back down at the creature who was leaping towards it with the face of an animal. The female Nocturna smelled the odour of decay from the creature and knew that it should be dead.

The Nocturna believe that somehow it- Spike - was alive, and was trying to steal its meal. The Nocturna pulled Willow's body back from Spike and roared at him before swinging its claws to fling him past the blonde girl, and onto the couch. The Nocturna then roared at all of them while Buffy yelled at Giles to take her mother, Dawn, and the others out of the house.

"Go!" yelled Buffy as she stared at Willow's body, which was now bleeding onto the carpet. Buffy then screamed at the Nocturna before rushing at it but stopped when she heard a scream behind her.

"Dissolvo!" yelled Tara whose hands were rolled into fists. A blue ball formed in her left side and shot at the Nocturna. The blue ball pushed the creature back just as Buffy rushed at it again while the others were being taken out of the house. Tara screamed out the spell once again, her voice cracking with both anger and sorrow, and the blue balls of lights kept on pushing the Nocturna back while swinging Willow's body, the blood getting splattered every which way.

As the Nocturna was being pushed back, Buffy leapt at the Nocturna with rage on her face. She swung the blade of the axe down but was swatted out of mid-air. She was flung through the glass window in the living room and grazed the porch railing before landing hard on the lawn.

In the meantime, the Nocturna licked its lips while staring at Tara. It flung Willow's unmoving body onto the floor before it prepared to leap at Tara who continued firing blue balls of light at it from thin air. It stepped back a few times before it released a roar and was then pelted by arrows which hit it's hardened scales. The arrow heads dented the scales slightly, but there was no penetration. The Nocturna heard the Slayer getting up slowly from the lawn behind it, while at the same time it stared at Riley who was holding the crossbow.

It roared at Riley before looking at Tara who was in tears. The Nocturna leapt at her but was suddenly sideswiped in mid-air thanks to Spike jumping back... literally, into the fight. He slammed the Nocturna into the wall while Xander, in tears over the unmoving body of Willow, pulled Tara away as she screamed for Willow.

"Get out of here, now!" yelled Joyce as she waved everyone outside to the front lawn.

"Go!" screamed Spike as the creature roared before slamming him into the floor, and then stepped on his chest. Spike grabbed the foot of the creature and with all his strength pushed it back while Buffy got up to her feet. Her slashed arm started bleeding again through the bandages and hung limply. Buffy saw the axe on the grassy ground while the others, including her mother, rushed out through the front door out to the lawn, leaving only Spike fighting the creature inside. Buffy told her mother to stay with Dawn, who was in tears from both the attack and what happened to Willow before she picked up the axe. Buffy then dashed around the side of the house and leapt through the hole in the wall. She swung her axe, while the creature stabbed Spike, and then smashed it down into the creature's back. With the sound of scales cracking, and a 'spodge' sound, the blade of the axe was buried in the Nocturna's shoulder.

The Nocturna screamed in rage as it swung its hand and threw Spike into the foyer while Buffy pulled out the axe, rolled to the side, and watched in sheer terror as the creature turned and swung its claws.

Buffy ducked while she watched Spike crash through a wall and hit the porch hard as Dawn screamed. Buffy rolled to the left and swung the axe into the Nocturna's side; and while it screamed in pain again, Buffy saw her best friend lying on the carpet as blood soaked into the carpet.

Buffy could not see Willow breathing, and she screamed in rage as she turned her head to the roaring creature. She felt her strength growing while she got up to her feet.

She felt the Slayer's power increase as she avoided one hit after another. She hit the creature a few more times, but despite it bleeding from the various wounds on its body, it still kept on coming after her.

"Are you obsessed with me or something?" she panted, "I remind you of someone, or…"

The Buffy saw the creature panting too as it took a few steps back and tried to make sense of what was happening. The Nocturna knew that this was the baby it had chased with that woman all those years ago, but the strength she was showing in continuing the fight was inhuman. The Nocturna then looked out the open front door at the wide open eyes of the mother. But instead of cowering in fear of this unexpected situation, the Nocturna loved it.

This situation made the female Nocturna want to eat Buffy even more. Before the Nocturna could make a move towards Joyce though, the creature was hit with a familiar scent. It smelled Spike, and it could hear him running on the other side of the wall with the gaping hole. The Nocturna knew that he wanted to do a surprise attack. It looked at Buffy who was prepared to leap into the air and then, using years of absorbing knowledge, the Nocturna grabbed Willow's body and flung it at her.

"Will!" Buffy yelled as she dropped the axe and made a move to catch her best friend's body.

The Nocturna saw Buffy catch the dead body, and then turned around just as the odour from the dead man was just behind. The Nocturna turned at the last moment while Spike was in the air, and stabbed him. The creature then, in one smooth stroke, used the claws on the other hand to behead him. To its surprise, however, the man turned to dust. The Nocturna had not expected this at all, and a small part wondered what was going on.

And that was another reason that increased it's resolve to eating the grown up baby who handed off the body of the redhead to another young man.

"You are not leaving here alive!" exclaimed an enraged Buffy while Xander rushed off with Willow's body. Buffy didn't care much for Spike… but even she had to admit to herself that there were times when he did help the Scoobies.

But it was the disrespect shown to Willow's body that enraged her even more. Everything happened in high speed for the Slayer, who got in more hits before avoiding the slashes from the monster in front of her. Buffy moved with an agility that the creature had never seen in a human being, and it wanted to know why. It looked at Buffy, watched how she attacked it before making a move. It stepped back, and then sideways, and then back again- all while avoiding hits.

But the Nocturna knew it couldn't do this for long. It had lost a lot of blood, and the only thing that was pushing it now was the yearning to taste Buffy's flesh. It took in the scent of her intoxicating blood, as well as her adrenaline which was keeping her going. The Nocturna could see that she was getting weaker from the blood loss and was doing everything she could to keep herself on her feet.

So the Nocturna rushed forward and swung its arms again. Buffy deftly avoided the slashes and pulled back her arm to sink the blade of the axe into its side. But the Nocturna stepped away and roared out loud before swinging its other hand downwards. Buffy turned her body, but the claws still went through her flesh. Buffy screamed in pain as she dropped her axe onto the bloodied carpet and instinctively grabbed her cut hips. She felt the blood pouring from the slashes as she stumbled sideways. She looked at the doorway as Giles and Riley were rushing in, but Buffy screamed at them to stop.

That was the distraction the Nocturna was looking for as it dashed behind Buffy and pulled its arm back. It's claws were aimed at Buffy's heart, her back to the monster while she screamed at them to get out of the house.

Hearing the swish from behind, Buffy rolled forward, the claws cutting through the wood under the carpet where she used to be. The Nocturna looked up at Buffy who was getting up to her feet while being pulled by Xander and Riley out the door. The creature pulled its claw out of the wood, and then leapt out the broken window in the living room and landed on the lawn. It then placed a foot forward, leaned towards the group and roared as Buffy, Riley, and Xander rushed down the stairs.

"One… one more time," said Buffy as she put her hands up while trying to keep the world from spinning. Joyce and Giles were getting into their cars, with Tara and Anya placing Willow's pale body into the back of Giles' roofless BMW. Joyce opened her car door just as the creature roared again, and then she heard the sound of thuds. She heard Xander, Riley, and Giles release screams as she opened her car door. Joyce turned around to see the Nocturna leaping towards her with its claws aimed at her heart.

Everything went into slow motion for Joyce. She saw Buffy was running in her direction, as was Xander and Riley behind her. Joyce saw Giles, who had been helping Tara and Anya, run towards her. And behind the creature, to it's left, Joyce saw her sister standing with Linton looking back at her. She saw her mother too, as well as her father; all waiting for her to join them.

Joyce didn't want to scream. She closed her eyes as the Nocturna's claws got closer to her chest. Then there was another thud. And the pain of the claws going through her body never came. She opened her eyes to see, in stunned silence, her daughter having shoulder charged the Nocturna, and the both of them on the street. She watched as an enraged Buffy backflipped out of the swinging claws of the Nocturna after she pushed herself off its body.

"Buffy!" yelled Xander as he threw her the axe, which she grabbed with her right arm, the only one that she could use at that moment. Buffy rolled to the side before slamming the blade into the Nocturna's chest. It gave out a roar before grabbing Buffy's arm just as she was about to pull out the axe. The Nocturna then swung Buffy hard into the lawn where she rolled on the ground before the Nocturna leapt towards her.

Buffy had her back to the creature as she tried to get up, with blood trickling from the side of her mouth and falling onto the grass. She was dizzy from blood loss before she turned her head to see Giles and Anya pulling back Joyce and Dawn who were screaming for her. She glanced at Tara who was in shock as she sat in the car while holding onto Willow's body, and then she saw Riley and Xander fire crossbows as the creature landed behind her with a thud.

She saw Riley throw the crossbow to the side and run towards her just as the Nocturna pulled back its arm, its claws aimed at Buffy's heart. The creature itself was getting dizzy as well from losing, even more, blood which flowed down its body. But now it could finally gut Buffy, and taste her.

 **Goa'uld Tel'tak, two minutes ago.**

It had been five minutes since General Carter picked up the members of SG-1 who were in full gear with everyone carrying M16's with armour piercing rounds. The cargo ship was getting really close to Sunnydale, it's original plan was to head for the Sunnydale Army base while the SGC monitored emergency calls in the city for anything related to the creature that murdered the people in the hospital.

It was only two minutes ago that the SGC contacted General Carter and SG-1 with some urgent news. It seemed that there were multiple calls from the vicinity of 1630 Revello Drive complaining about an animal that matched a description the alien on the video. The fact that this was happening in a residential neighbourhood at that moment in time changed SG-1's plans. The Colonel wanted the team to be transported down to the address, coordinates of which was sent over by the SGC. The ship accelerated towards the address they were given, and before long they were hovering several hundred feet over a house.

Scans showed a man running at the creature before he was stabbed in the chest before having his neck bit into, and then torn off. The Major and the others watched in horror as the body was then swung out onto the street.

"Jacob, use the rings and get us down there," said the Colonel with an urgent tone in his voice as he and the rest of SG-1 rushed to the teleportation rings. In the meantime, the creature pulled its arm back, ready to strike into the back of the girl lying on the grass. Their weapons ready, General Carter moved the ship until they were just above the street, and then pressed a button.

The Nocturna was about to stab Buffy when it heard the very same sound that had gotten its kind into the secret Tok'ra base on Vorash. It stepped back and looked to it's left as rings fell from the sky. Goles and the others stared at the rings as well, the Watcher looking up before barely making out a triangular outline high up in the sky.

"What the hell?" asked Xander just as there was a bright flash of light that travelled from the ship to the middle of the rings. The Nocturna's red eyes looked at the rings travelling back up to the ship revealing four people, one of whom whose scent was the same as the ones it had eaten in Vorash. He had the scent of the one it had killed on the ship that brought it to Earth.

"Everyone down!" yelled the Colonel as he and the others started to fire at the Nocturna which had dashed towards them. Giles, while surprised at the method of arrival of the four, pulled Joyce behind the car, just as Anya pulled Dawn away while Xander rushed to Tara, jumped into the back seat of the BMW and pushed her down while using himself as a shield. Buffy was still lying on the grass unmoving.

The rounds cracked through the hard scales on the Nocturna and dug into the flesh underneath. The four of them fired continuously as the Nocturna's chest and abdomen bled profusely from the shots, and from the wounds, Buffy already inflicted on it. But it was still standing before it stumbled sideways onto the ground, and then stood up as it tried to escape. But it was too dizzy and went down on all fours while the four of them continued firing.

"Mag!" yelled the colonel as he switched magazines and continued to fire into the roaring Nocturna which got up and tried to run, only to stumble again as Major Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c replaced their magazines and fired. It would be after two whole magazines each that the Nocturna lay dead on the street.

And now began the clean-up.

"Jacob!" yelled the Colonel into the radio, "contact the Army Base for a recovery team to secure the creature. And contact the hospitals, I need medical crews here now!"

While the Colonel was talking to General Carter, Major Carter and Daniel rushed to the girl lying on the grass. She wasn't moving while a woman and a child were trying to roll her over.

"Hi, I'm Major Sam Carter," she said as she helped Joyce and Dawn roll Buffy's body onto her back. She then felt for a pulse before reaching to her radio and saying that the young woman's pulse was weak but steady.

"We.. we need to get her to a hospital," said Joyce as the Major looked up at her, and then at Teal'c who said that the man who was lying on the street was dead.

"Oh God, Riley," Dawn whispered with tears in her eyes before she looked back at Buffy who was bleeding from various wounds on her body.

"Sir!" yelled the Major at Colonel O'Neill after visually inspecting Buffy's injuries, "how long for an ambulance?"

"Three minutes!" yelled the Colonel as he ran at Major Carter while another older man ran towards Joyce and Dawn. In the meantime, he noticed Daniel placing a hand on the shoulder of the young woman in the back of a BMW who was staring at a redhaired young woman who she was cradling in her arms.

The Major looked back down at the young woman on the ground while Giles asked her, and then Colonel O'Neill who they were, and how they arrived at their location.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force. And what you just saw was a classified shuttle we're working on," said the Colonel before he looked down at the Major who grabbed Joyce's hand and pressed it down on Buffy's more serious injury on her hip while getting a bandage from the Colonel. She used that bandage to tightly wrap around the slashes on the young woman's left arm.

"Keep up the pressure, Miss….?" said the Major as she looked in the eyes of the older woman, and then she looked at the young girl, and then at the older woman again who introduced herself as Joyce Summers and her daughters, Buffy and Dawn. The Major then nodded her head before saying, "Keep up the pressure on the wound, we want to stop the loss of blood until the ambulance gets here."

"Can't we just take your plane or… whatever it is?" asked Giles who knew that there was something off about their explanation. But given the circumstances of what had just happened, he wasn't going to start demanding to know what was going on.

It was the Colonel who heard the sound of sirens in the distance before he turned away from Giles and asked 'Murray' to lead the ambulance away from the 'package'.

"We've got the ambulance coming," said the Colonel as the red and lights could be seen in the distance. In the meantime, the Major turned to Dawn and asked her gently to talk to her sister.

"Keep her here," she said gently as Dawn grabbed Buffy's hand and started gently calling out to her. At the same time, Daniel stood on the lawn as he watched Tara sitting in shock with the redhead in her arms. On either side were Xander and Anya, the former of whom was caressing the redhead's cheek. Daniel looked away and looked up at the outline of the darkened cargo-ship zooming away to the Sunnydale Army base. From there, the General would return with a team to loading the body of the alien creature before returning it to the base and then load it onto the cargo ship.

A few minutes after the ship flew off, the ambulance arrived and the paramedics dashed to Buffy, Willow, and Riley's body. All the Colonel and SG-1 could do was look on as Buffy was placed on a gurney. Daniel looked at the paramedics checking on Willow, but he could tell from their expression that she was gone. He then looked at the stunned faces of the civilians around him, and simply knew that they hadn't seen the last of this alien.

In fact, he had a feeling that this was just the beginning of a very long day.

TBC.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sunnydale General Hospital.**

Joyce, with Dawn sitting right next to her, was in the same ambulance as her injured older daughter. The both of them were holding onto Buffy's arm while Giles and the others were waiting for another two ambulances to take away Willow and Riley's dead bodies. Tara and Xander were kneeling next to Willow while holding her hand; the blonde witch closed her eyes and mumbled a prayer in Hebrew while Xander could only wipe tears away from his eyes with the back of his hand as he stared at Willow's face after having pulled back the white sheet provided by the paramedics. In the meantime, Giles and Anya walked up to Xander and lay a hand gently on his shoulder while the newcomers- Colonel O'Neill and the others, were standing around the body of the demon.

Giles glanced at them, and then back to Xander looking back at him with tears continuing to welling in his red eyes despite constantly wiping the liquid away. "Xander, I need you and Anya to follow Joyce and Dawn to the hospital," Giles said gently. The young man was about to say something when Giles pleaded again. He then assured him that Willow's body would not be alone.

Xander then looked back at the redhead while more sirens could be heard in the distance, and slowly got up to his feet. He then nodded at Giles before saying that he wanted to burn the demon that did this; Xander hissed that the demon had to pay and that it was their right to burn it to ashes.

"The demon's already dead, Xander," whispered Giles with a hand on Xander's shoulder, "now….," Giles's voice broke a little as he looked away from Xander and stifled a sob while trying to pull back the tears that were gathering in his eyes. He then sniffled, shook his head, and looked back at Xander before continuing, "now we have to make.. make sure that the dead are looked after with honour, and that the living are safe and sound. Buffy's still in danger, and she'll need us to pull through. Joyce, Dawn, and Buffy will need all of us."

"Go, Xander, Anya" Tara whispered while she looked down at the redhead, "I'll… I'll stay with… with her."

It would be moments later that Xander nodded his head whispering at Willow that he would be seeing her soon once again at the hospital. Xander then got up and left with Anya who was remaining silent as she tried to process the needless, and violent deaths, all around her. She glanced at the dead body of the 'demon' and tried to rack her brain for any knowledge on what species it belonged to. But despite her over thousand years of demonic knowledge, Anya did not have a single clue. Looking back at Willow's body, Anya shook her head and then rushed off with Xander.

While Xander reversed Joyce's jeep onto the main street, Colonel O'Neill was looking down at the body of the Nocturna before looking up at the Major, Teal'c, and Daniel.

"T? You sure the Goa'uld have nothing to do with this?" asked the Colonel.

"I am unable to say, O'Neill," Teal'c replied while Daniel watched Xander drive off, and then turned to glance at Tara and Giles over the body that the paramedics had placed on the grass. Beside the blonde kneeling down on the grass, next to the body of the redhead, was the body of an unknown male covered in a white sheet as well. He then turned back to Teal'c who continued, "if the Goa'uld created this weapon, O'Neill, then there would be an invasion. This is just one creature."

"One alien creature that appeared in our sights after the cargo ship entered our atmosphere," the Major added.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"I want Fraiser to run an autopsy on the thing," said the Colonel as the Major crouched down and stared at the body riddled with bullet holes. She reached down and brushed her hand against one of the scales before looking up and telling the Colonel and the others that the scales covering the body had cracked, while a few others seemed to have been shattered.

"But Zats didn't affect these things," said Daniel.

"No," the Major whispered while looking back down at the body again, "I won't know until we run tests on the scales, but my hypothesis is that its unique properties prevent the Zat beams from affecting the flesh underneath. Maybe it's like biological chainmail armour. Like I said, we'll need to run tests on it."

"How long will it take Jacob to get here?" asked Daniel.

"Twenty minutes with a full team," the Colonel said before he looked at the bodies lying on the grass, "they're just kids."

"What are we telling them, Colonel?" asked Major Carter as she stood up.

"I'll contact Hammond," said the Colonel as he looked back at the Major, "an animal attack is out of the question. Honestly? I don't know what we tell them. If it was on the run? Then we could have gone with the animal attack scenario, but these people lost two people… and the one sent to the hospital was badly injured."

Before the Colonel could continue speaking, everyone looked up at the sky as a military helicopter flew towards them before hovering overhead. The Colonel squinted his eyes as lights were being shone on them, and then at the group watching over the two bodies. He then gruffly asked, "what the hell?" as seven people rappelled down to the street. Three of them upon landing on the ground, and the helicopter flying off, rushed over to where the bodies were laid with Giles and Tara getting up to their feet; the older man demanding to know what was going on. In the meantime, the other three men, led by a man in black tactical gear with brown hair, rushed up to SG-1.

"Thank you for taking care of this… thing, but I'm afraid you'll have to come back with me for a debriefing and…"

"It is proper to introduce one's self, first," said the Colonel dryly as he stared at the middle-aged man.

"Sorry, I'm Major Ellis, US Army."

"Colonel Jack O'Neill." Major Ellis looked on surprised at the Colonel as he introduced himself while wondering why it was that the Air Force had sent officers to an HST, Hostile Sub-terrestrial, call originally made by Riley. He knew that this was supposed to be an Army operation and that the Air Force had no jurisdiction. The Major recalled having seen the hollow meteor, but no sign of the former Agent who quit the Initiative over a year ago. It was then that they received a call from their supervisor at the Pentagon about the 911 call dealing with an animal attack on the residence behind them.

"Sir," said Major Ellis after the Colonel finished introducing Daniel, "I'm sorry but you'll still need to be debriefed on what you've seen. And we have been authorised to take the creature with us. Again, we're thankful for…"

"Yeah," the Colonel shook his head upon hearing that the body of the alien was being taken out of their hands, "that's not happening."

"Sir," said the Major while another man rushed out to them just as two ambulances arrived to take away the bodies. The other man interrupted the Major while the Colonel looked at Major Carter with an expression that conveyed, 'can you believe this?' before turning his head back to the newcomer telling Major Ellis that "Agent Finn was dead."

Major Ellis looked on in disbelieve at the man, Graham Miller, and nodded his head before asking him to accompany the ambulance to the hospital where Riley's body was to be extracted by helicopter to the Sunnydale Army Base for an autopsy. Graham then nodded his head before making a call to the helicopter that brought them to the Summers house, telling the pilot to meet them at Sunnydale General. He then rushed off to the bodies, and offered his condolences to both Giles and Tara before telling them that he was one of the people that Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles had saved from the Initiative Incident. While he was talking to Giles as Tara followed Willow's body into one of the ambulances, Major Ellis turned back to Colonel O'Neill and apologized for being blunt.

"Sir, I admit that I have no idea what you and your people are doing here," he said, "but you've just stumbled into a classified op that's meant to protect national security. I need to take that creature away and…."

"Carter," interrupted the Colonel as he looked over his shoulder at the blonde Air Force officer, "call Hammond, I want to know exactly what's going on."

"Sir," said Major Ellis with an exasperated look on his face while Major Carter took out a phone and contacted the SGC, "I doubt any of you people have the clearance to be read into this op."

"Sir?" said, Major Carter, as she handed the phone to Colonel O'Neill before saying that General Hammond was on the line. The Colonel then spoke to the General and explained the situation for a few seconds before handing the phone with the surprised General on the other line to Major Ellis. The Colonel looked on as Major Ellis repeatedly told the General that he was under specific orders to not let anyone recover the creature; that they were supposed to neutralise it, and then recover the body before destroying it.

"General Hammond," said Major Ellis as the ambulances drove away, leaving an empty house, a bloody section of the street where Riley's body use to lie, and a bloody patch of grass. "I'm afraid I cannot follow that order… yes, sir… no, sir… I…."

The Colonel and the others listened in as Major Ellis was surrounded by the remaining people who rappelled out of the helicopter, behind him. Major Ellis then gave the General a number to call before nodding his head and closing the phone. He then handed the phone to Colonel O'Neill and said that the General would be calling back in a few minutes.

And he did.

"Jack," said the General as the Colonel put the phone to his ear. The Colonel could tell from the General's voice that he was doing his best to be calm, "I just talked to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And before you say anything else, apparently Major Ellis' mission is need to know. Even I don't need to know, all I've been told is to hand over the body."

"Sir, I…."

"I wasn't happy about it either, son," the General said, "but while he didn't tell me which organization Major Ellis belongs to, or his mission in Sunnydale; the Chair did say that information on the crashed ship and the alien leaked to Kinsey. Someone showed him the news feed about the alien attack in Sunnydale. He wants another investigation into the SGC, meaning another suspension of off-world travel. The Chairman explained that by handing the body over to these people, the alien won't be connected to the SGC. The crash of the cargo ship and this creature won't be connected. And Kinsey won't have a leg to stand on."

"Are you sure, sir?" asked the surprised Colonel.

"I don't like this either, Jack," General Hammond said, "but this is the best way to keep Kinsey out of the SGC, at least until he finds that he has something else to complain about. Hand them the body. I've just told Major Ellis we're a special ops team working on behalf of DARPA, and that they are bound never to reveal they ever met you or your team. In fact, they never talked to any of us."

"Understood, sir," sighed the Colonel.

"There's a boat waiting to take you and your team out to the crashed ship," said the General, "I want to know who was on that ship, why it crashed, and who released that alien. Get to it, Colonel."

"Yes, sir," said the Colonel before he put the phone down and put it in his pocket. He then turned to Major Carter and the others before telling them to stand down. Just as the stunned blonde Major was about to ask for an explanation, the Colonel then turned to Major Ellis and said that the creature was their responsibility now, "but, we're working on some classified armour for our boys and girls, so we need to get a sample of the thing's skin."

"I…."

"Or would you like to take to the Chairman again?" asked the Colonel. Major Ellis looked at the man for a few seconds before nodding his head. The Colonel then had Major Carter take a few of the scales while Colonel O'Neill then turned back to Major Ellis and thanked him for his cooperation.

Major Ellis nodded his head as Major Carter stood up with several of the scales in her hand. She said that she was done and then Colonel O'Neill, along with SG-1, walked around the Nocturna. Almost immediately, the members of Major Elis' team surrounded the creature while one of the them contacted a retrieval unit to take them away. Major Ellis, in the meantime, approached the Colonel and said that he and the others still needed to go leave with him to be debriefed

"I tell you what, Major,"; said the Colonel as he glared at Major Ellis while Daniel and Major Carter looked on. "How about you call the Chair of the Joint Chiefs again and ask him if we need to be debriefed. We'll wait." While Major Ellis was calling the Chair of the Joint Chiefs on his own secured phone, Daniel was standing on the street as he looked out at the lit windows of all the houses. He saw various people standing outside in their driveways looking worried before he turned around and looked down the other side of the street. While Major Ellis was being told that there would be no debriefing, Daniel looked on confused as he looked down both ends of the entire street a few more times, before looking at the house behind SG-1 and the newcomers.

He put his hands on his waist as he went deep into thought while the Colonel, Major Carter, and then Teal'c walked up to him while saying that they now had to wait for General Carter to come by in his convoy to pick them up.

"Jack," said Daniel as he looked at both sides of the street again, "what do you see?"

"What's wrong?" asked Major Carter.

"What do you guys see?" asked Daniel again.

"People not being able to sleep because of the noise?" asked the Colonel as he noticed the people standing out in their own driveways or looking out their windows, "I mean people did call 911 for a reason. Maybe they're still terrified to go back to sleep? Or something? Is that the answer you're looking for?"

"The other houses were not attacked," Teal'c said in a matter-of-fact voice. Everyone looked at him while Daniel snapped his fingers on his left hand before saying that it was strange that the other houses had people still alive.

Daniel continued to say, "this alien had so many people, on this street alone, to attack. So why did it attack this one place in particular?"

"Are you saying this was a targeted attack?" asked Major Carter as she looked at the house, and then back at Daniel. She then turned with a quizzical look on her face to Colonel O'Neill who was staring at the blood on the street and then at the lawn. "Sir?"

"If this was a targeted attack, we need to know why," the Colonel said, keeping his voice low. "When Jacob gets here? Daniel, Teal'c, I want you to go to the hospital and talk to the people who live here. Since these Army guys are taking the body of this… thing.. it's out of our hands. If asked, we'll tell the owners of the house that we received an emergency transmission while conducting a fight test."

"How about the ring transport?"

"They were stressed after what happened," said the Colonel, "the ring transporter is really an elevator with an accompanying light show that's meant to distract the bad guys from finding out how many people they'll be facing… it's a whole tactical thing."

"That's going to work?" asked Daniel with an arched eyebrow.

"It's worth a try," the Colonel said as they stood on one side while Major Ellis and his team went to work.

 **Sunnydale General, thirty minutes later.**

With Sheila and Ira Rosenberg identifying their daughter, Joyce was seated in the waiting room with Dawn holding onto her as she rested an arm on her younger daughter's shoulder. Joyce glanced at Xander, who wanted to be with both Buffy and Willow until Giles explained that the redhead's parents should be with her for that moment in time with Tara, while he was sitting down next to Anya with his head staring at the floor. Joyce then looked at Giles who was pacing the floor and then looked away and to the floor in front of her.

'Willow, Riley, and Buffy,' thought Joyce to herself as she held back a sob, and the feeling of a lump rising in her throat, 'this thing chased us and.. and it attacked us. It wanted me and Buffy. It injured her, and killed her best friend and boyfriend. Oh dear God, this is my fault. My fault.'

Joyce sniffled before leaning back on the chair and looking up at the ceiling to keep her tears at bay. She then lowered her head and looked into Giles' eyes. She could see that Giles still didn't fully believe her… she knew that Giles was still searching for a supernatural explanation for what happened. However, Joyce wanted to ask him about the Order of Dagon, she wanted to know why he was so surprised after she mentioned their name. Giles was about to open his mouth when he heard hurried footsteps from behind.

Expecting that it was the surgeon coming to give them an update on Buffy's condition, Giles turned around only to see two of the four people who had earlier shot down the demon. He frowned before looking back at Joyce who narrowed her eyes looking at the two men before looking up at Giles once again. She saw the shorter, younger, man turning to the taller dark skinned man who was wearing a woollen cp over his forehead. The taller man nodded his head before remaining behind while the younger one walked towards them with his hands in his pocket.

"Dawnie," Joyce whispered while Dawn continued to hold on to her tightly while Giles stepped out of the waiting room and into the hallway, "I'll be right back."

"Mom?" asked Dawn as she looked up with tears still in her eyes, along with trails that ran down her cheeks.

"I'll be right here," said Joyce as the stranger approached Giles. Dawn nodded her head as Joyce got up while asking Xander to sit with Dawn. The young man nodded his head before he and Anya got up form their seats and sat next to Dawn. Joyce kissed the top of Dawn's head before walking towards Giles and the stranger.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your friends," said Daniel as he stood a few steps away from Giles as Joyce soon joined his side. Daniel then turned to Joyce and asked if Buffy was going to be alright.

"She's in surgery," Joyce said, "thank that woman… Sam, I think it was, for me."

"I will," said Daniel before introducing himself. After introducing himself, Daniel noticed the questioning look on Giles' face as he introduced himself before introducing Joyce. Putting the odd look to the back of his mind, for now, Daniel then explained that the Air Force was testing a classified air craft when they intercepted a call from the emergency services. He explained that the equipment they were using was classified and highly experimental, "but we got the call and our commanding officer ordered us to go out to your address. And when we saw that animal attack, we had to intervene."

"However you and your people intervened, thank you," said Joyce managing a small smile before looking over her shoulder at Dawn, and then back at Daniel while a suspicious Giles was asking him if he really was Dr. Daniel Jackson.

"Yes," Daniel replied while Teal' was staring at a sign in the hallway.

"Rupert?" asked Joyce while noticing the look of doubt on his face.

"I'm sorry, you share the same name as a discredited archaeologist. But the last I heard, he died in Egypt."

"Well, there are a lot of Daniel Jackson's in the world," chuckled Daniel before he stopped and apologised while saying that this wasn't the time to be laughing. He then began to explain, before Giles could ask any more questions, while at the same time making a mental note to himself to check his notes on a Dr Rupert Giles. "We noticed that the animal avoided all the other homes, and instead attacked your home. I was just wondering if, there's no good way to ask, but would you happen to have any idea why this thing targeted your home?"

"It's an animal, Dr. Jackson," said Giles while wondering if the man in front of him knew about demons and the supernatural. He believed that the demon did target Buffy, while Joyce and Dawn just happened to be in the way, 'Buffy is the Slayer, and the demon was after the slayer. The demon must have tracked Buffy to the hospital, and then to her home by scent. That has to be the explanation, but it still doesn't explain Joyce's altered memories of being born on another planet, or that Buffy is her supposed niece, and it does not explain how Joyce knows about the Order of Dagon.'

"There's no way to know why it attacked us," Giles continued to say while Joyce was looking past Daniel, and to Teal'c who was now standing with his back to Joyce and the others while looking out the window at the night sky. She glanced over at the man as he looked around at his surroundings, with Joyce looking away when he turned to check if anyone was behind him. Joyce glanced back at him while Daniel and Giles were still talking and noticed he had taken off his woollen cap, turned it inside out, and then put it back over his head.

And when he did, she caught a glimpse of a reflection on the window. She had seen the symbol on his forehead reflected in the window. It was for just an instant, but she saw it. She then glanced away and looked at Daniel, and then back at the bald man with surprise in her eyes. Joyce remembered being taught the legends of how their people were led to freedom hundreds of years ago by a young woman who named their new home after herself, Asherah.

Joyce remembered her mother drawing her a symbol, the very same symbol that had been on the dark skinned man's forehead, and told her that Asherah wore that symbol. It was a symbol that Joyce hadn't seen in real life on a living man or woman until now. And it made her wonder about who the man was, and if he was related in any way to the woman who freed her ancestors. Joyce remembered her teachers telling her and her fellow classmates that Asherah led them to freedom in the cover of night through what they called the Great Ring to their new world.

'At least that's one of many stories,' thought Joyce to herself as she glanced at Teal'c who was standing still and looking out the window. She looked at Daniel again and asked about Teal'c. Daniel looked over his shoulder and called Teal'c over before introducing him as Murray and explaining that he felt that they would feel crowded if the both of them spoke to her and Giles.

"But that's why we had to come back and talk to you," said Daniel "we were curious to know if this was a targeted attack. So you've never encountered this animal before?"

"No," said Giles shaking his head.

"Are you certain?" asked Teal'c as Joyce looked up at him.

"I am, I mean… whatever that animal was? I would have noticed it earlier. That's not something any of us would miss."

"Yes," Joyce said while wondering at the same time what it meant if the man with the golden tattoo on his forehead was like her, a being from another world. Joyce didn't know if she should say something in case they think that she's crazy or worse. Joyce was afraid that they would take away her and her daughter so that they could run experiments on her. It was then a part of Joyce was telling herself that the golden tattoo on the man's forehead could have been a prank gone bad. But another part of Joyce was telling herself that, if it was a prank, then the chances of the man picking out a symbol that represented Asherah was astronomical. "we haven't… I mean we haven't encountered that creature before now and…."

"Mrs. Summers?" asked Daniel as the woman stopped talking before shaking her head and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She then took in a deep breath while trying to settle both sides of her psyche that were duelling in regards to hoping that the man with the tattoo was like her, and alien, and that Daniel knew about it. She knew the risks to Buffy, Dawn, and herself; but there was an additional concern growing in her mind.

That there was another of those creatures out there on Earth, and it was coming for her and her daughters.

"I... I've seen that thing before," said Joyce as Giles turned to Joyce before holding her shoulder and whispering in her ear that they needed to talk in private.

"This is about Dawn and Buffy's lives," whispered Joyce before she looked back at the waiting room and saw a saddened Dawn looking at the floor while Xander had his arm around her shoulder while Anya rested her head on his shoulder. "This is to keep them safe."

"Mrs. Summers?" asked Daniel, "is everything alright?"

"I…."

"Joyce," whispered Giles shaking his head.

However, before Joyce could say anything, they heard more footsteps walking towards them from another adjacent hallway. Joyce turned her head and saw a doctor in a green top with a mask hanging off his neck walking towards them.

"Mrs Summers?" asked the doctor as he stopped.

"Dawn," Joyce called out. Dawn and then others got off their seats and approached Joyce and Giles while Daniel and Teal'c took a few steps back to give the group some privacy. They heard the doctor saying that Buffy had no internal bleeding and that any bleeding from her injuries had been stopped.

"She's stable now and we'll be wheeling her out to her room in an hour or so," said the doctor as Dawn held onto her mother.

"Can we see her?" asked Joyce.

"She's unconscious," the doctor said, "we're dressing her wounds right now, and we'll be giving her some blood. You can see her once she's been taken to her room."

"But she's alive," said Xander.

"She's alive," the doctor reassured them. He then nodded his head at Joyce and Dawn before saying that he had to get back to the operating theatre. Once the doctor began walking away, Xander said that he would go to Tara and give her the news. Giles nodded his head as the young man rushed off while Dawn hugged Joyce tightly, tears flowing down their cheeks at hearing the good news. All the while, Daniela and Teal'c were standing against the wall, the archaeologist whispering that Joyce seemed to want to tell them something.

"Indeed," said Teal'c as they watched the group. They looked at Joyce glancing back at them while hugging Dawn. As the two members of SG-1 waited for the group to disperse, and Joyce to approach them once again; ten breaches opened up in space with twelve Goa'uld Ha'tak class ships exiting hyperspace. The ships flew closer to Earth while targeting several areas of the planet, including Cheyenne mountain.

TBC.


	5. Chapter 5

Ever since the day the Earth was inducted into the Protected Planet's Treaty, the space around Earth has been continuously monitored by the Asgard. It was Thor, who was several light years away from Cimmeria, who watched as a Goa'uld Cargo ship entered Earth space and then entered the atmosphere without slowing down. He didn't think much of it since the ship seemed to be going out of control and his systems showed that it was going to crash. After it did, he then detected the other Cargo ship getting out of Hyperspace over twenty minutes later.

Seeing the other ship made him slightly concerned, so he flew his ship to the edge of the Sol system where he used his sensors to 'see' the ship heading for Colorado Springs, and landing at Petersons. Sighing while shaking his head once he saw SG-1 boarding the vessel, Thor then turned his ship around and opened a hyperspace window that sent him back to his previous location. Once there, he resumed monitoring the vast majority of the Asgard Protected Planets. He enjoyed the isolation and quiet, especially with a lull in the war against the replicators after sustaining a small victory in when one of their most advanced ships, the O'Neill, was used to destroy three replicator controlled vessels that were attacking Orilla several days ago.

Thor had detailed scans of the way the Tau'ri destroyed the replicator bugs, and had already implemented a way for their ion weapons to impart similar levels of kinetic energy as a bullet. He continued his work when, suddenly, he felt as if he was not alone. Looking up, and to his left, Thor caught sight of a woman with dark hair and white gown standing at a large viewport looking out into space.

"Greetings," Thor said while he walked around the console. He was about to walk over to the woman when she slowly turned, and Thor stopped before giving her a nod of respect. He knew her a long time ago, ever since the people known as the Ancients returned to Earth from the Pegasus galaxy. However, the woman he had known ascended to another plain of existence… and from what he knew about ascended beings, their first rule was to never interfere in the lives of the lower beings. So for her to appear in front of him meant that there was some grave danger the galaxy, the Earth, the Asgard, or even his ship, could be facing soon, 'it could be due to a variety of reasons that she would be here.'

He looked up at the woman who smiled back at him before nodding her head in respect for one of the members of the Great Alliance.

"Ganos, you are well," Thor said.

However, Ganos didn't say a word.

"I realize the law of the Ascended precludes you from interfering, but your presence here indicates a grave danger, does it not?" asked Thor.

All she did was stare back at Thor with great sadness in her eyes, or at least he thought it was sadness, before looking out into space towards space. The grey alien then watched the young woman look back at him one last time before whispering, "they have returned". Thor blinked just before she vanished, and then shook his head before heading back to the console he was standing behind a few moments ago. The grey alien placed his hands on the cool surface of the white back-lit console while wondering what Ganos meant when an alarm from his console started to blare.

Thor looked up at the screen that popped up from the console and pursed his lips at the scanners having detected twelve Goa'uld ships, all Ha'tak class, heading directly for Earth through hyperspace. The Asgard saw the ships exit hyperspace before preparing to target various areas on Earth. Looking back down at the panel in front of him, Thor then picked up a control pebble, and placed it on another section of the console before tuning the warm object clockwise. Thor then looked up just as a hyperspace window opened up two meters away from the forward section of his ship. The Belisknir then jumped into the blue hued window, and then exited in front of the fleet of Goa'uld ships a few seconds later

Almost immediately, Thor contacted the Asgard High Council for more ships while, in the meantime, back on Earth, Walter slammed down on a button which activated klaxons while yelling into the microphone for General Hammond to come down to the control room. While the General got off his seat in his office, and dashed down the stairs to the control room, Thor's lone ship faced the twelve Goa'uld vessels. The Belisknir shields were activated and weapons were targeting the lead ship. He knew that the Goa'uld had very little chance to destroy the Belisknir, and with two more on the way, Thor knew they would win should firepower be exchanged.

"I am Thor, supreme commander of the Asgard fleet," the grey alien said as he looked out at the Ha'tak class vessels, "you are in violation of the Protected Planets Treaty. Power down your weapons, and leave this space."

"Do not speak to me of violations, Asgard," hissed a woman with dark hair that flowed down the side of her head after she appeared on Thor's screen. Thor saw the symbol on the foreheads of the female Jaffa standing on either side of the woman, and knew who he was dealing with at that moment, Bastet, one of the Goa'uld system lords who cautiously accepted the Tau'ri's induction into the treat, "I was for Earth being included into the Treaty over the objections of several other System Lords because I am perfectly content with the territory I have. Or rather, had. Ba'al, Amaterasu, Morrigan, and many others said that the Tau'ri cannot be trusted, while Lord Yu and Cronus were more cautious in their acceptance. And the ones who rejected the acceptance of the Tau'ri were proven right. They sent bio-engineered weapons to my homeworld, killing hundreds and thousands of my Jaffa, and my slaves. This is all I have left. And I will have my vengeance; the Tau'ri will know what it is to anger a god!"

"The Treaty provides avenues to investigate your charges, and your charges are highly serious," said Thor just as two more Asgard ships appeared to the Belisknir's starboard side and then moved to position themselves on either side of Thor's vessel, "I suggest we speak to the Tau'ri, and if they have claimed anything that is contrary to the scans I am currently taking of the planet than…"

"Who else could it be!" demanded Bastet as Thor watched the Jaffa behind her looking away sadly while the others were staring at the screen, at Thor, in rage. "they sent those… those things through the Chappa-aii and… and they killed thousands of my Jaffa. Not just killed… they ate the slaves, the Jaffa, and our weapons did nothing against them! Who else but the Tau'ri would be…"

"Bastet," interrupted Thor once he heard about these biological weapons eating slaves and Jaffa, and that they couldn't be affected by ordinary energy weapons, "can you describe these biological weapons?" Thor suspected what Bastet was referring to, but he kept thinking to himself that it wasn't possible, and then he remembered what Ganos had whispered.

But Thor knew that 'it' wasn't possible. He knew that his ancestors, along with the Nox, and Furlings helped the Ancients destroy all the creatures, the Nocturna, that once threatened the Galaxy. If he was right, and he hoped he was not, he hoped that maybe the SGC really did create a bio-weapon that ate Jaffa, and that the death of the slaves was simply collateral damage.

'Because if they did not. If they did not create the weapon, then that would mean, no matter how unlikely, the Nocturna have returned.

At the same time, Thor was getting a hail from the SGC, a hail which he responded by sending an encrypted message back asking them to stand-by. He then gave his full attention to Bastet's description of the bio-weapon while her plasma weapons were trained on the other Asgard vessels as well. Upon hearing the description of the 'weapons', the other Asgard commanders contacted Thor to confer on what they had just heard.

While they hadn't been present when the Asgard first encountered the Nocturna, they knew about the creatures dubbed as the greatest threat to the galaxy from their historical database.

The Nocturna were a greater threat than even the Goa'uld. And The Asgard knew what the Alliance had done to destroy the creatures…. He knew what action the Ancients had to take to secure their future. And if they really did return as Ganos and Bastet seemed to infer, there was no clue as to how many of the Nocturna there were out there in the galaxy.

"Bastet," Thor said, "power down your weapons. I would like to propose a meeting on a neutral world." Thor could see that she was about to interrupt, "if your description of the creatures that have eaten your Jaffa is accurate, then we are facing a greater danger than any of us could ever have imagined. And the Tau'ri are not the cause, I…"

"The Asgard have always allied themselves with the Tau'ri," hissed Bastet as she leaned forward on her command chair, "so of course you will claim they are not to blame. But I have seen with my own eyes what these monsters are capable of. I have received reports from the Jaffa of Ba'al, Heru'ur, and several others that claim these creatures attacked them as well before losing communications with them. It was the Tau'ri! We will defend ourselves from any Tau'ri weapon. If you want to stop us, Asgard? Then you will have to destroy us. All ships, target the surface!"

Thor blinked his eyes before he pressed another button that sent a sub-space signal. And it was a few seconds later that five more ships appeared over Earth while General Hammond and the others in the control room were wondering what was happening overhead. The atmosphere was tense in the Control Room, the Pentagon, and the White House soon after Thor asked the SGC to 'stand-by'. They were now simply watching and waiting.

With the classified X-303 still being constructed, that's all anyone could do.

In the meantime, the General told Walter to call Colonel O'Neill and inform him on what was happening. Walter then contacted the Colonel who was seated next to General Carter in a Humvee heading for the Port of Sunnydale were there was a Navy boat waiting to take them to an awaiting vessel.

Once the Colonel answered his phone while the vehicle was being driven by General Carter, he was covered in a bright white light followed by a screeching sound.

"Jack?" yelled a stunned General Carter while his daughter simply looked on with eyes wide open as the Colonel vanished. The both of them then looked at each other before the General slammed onto the breaks. Once the vehicle stopped at the side of the road, Major Carter took out her phone and contacted the SGC.

Judging from the transporter sound, the Major knew that the Asgard were over Earth, and they had taken the Colonel. And that fact was confirmed by General Hammond who told Major Carter that there were eight Asgard ships in orbit, along with twelve Goa'uld vessels. The Major and General Carter were then told to head back to the hospital, pick up Daniel and Teal'c, and then return to the cargo ship. The major nodded her head before acknowledging the order. She then told her father to turn the Humvee around and head back to the hospital.

As for Colonel O'Neill, he found himself reappearing on the Belisknir with the phone to his ear. Since he was in a seated positon on the passenger side of the Humvee, he was beamed up in the same seated position. Upon rematerializing, he stumbled back and fell down onto the floor.

"O'Neill," said Thor as he walked towards the Colonel who sighed while lying on his back, put away the phone from his ear, and then started to slowly get to his feet. The Colonel nodded his head at Thor before saying that he could have called first. Out of the corner of his eyes, the Colonel noticed the Goa'uld ships outside the viewport, and then he stared at the enraged face of Bastet. The Colonel then pursed his lip and turned to Thor who said, "we must speak."

"Yeah," said the Colonel, "I get that, but aren't the snakes being here against the rules or something."

"We would not be here if the Tau'ri had not created a biological weapon that…"

"We create a bio-weapon?" said the Colonel pointing to himself as he strode towards the monitor glaring at Bastet, "that's rich coming from you snakes. Or have you completely glossed over the fact that you sent a cargo ship crashing to Earth, and releasing a monster that's already killed numerous people before we killed it." The Colonel then pointed at Bastet who locked her jaw in anger at the Colonel while Thor raised his arms and asked everyone to calm down. Hoping that the Colonel wasn't saying what he thought he was saying, Thor then turned towards the human male and asked him to describe the monster that he accused the Goa'uld of sending to Earth.

AS the Colonel started to describe the creature, Thor looked away in disbelief at how accurately the Colonel and Bastet's description of the creature matched. He snapped his head back up at the Colonel when he mentioned that several people died when the creature went on a rampage, "so yeah, we didn't send any bioweapons to you snakes. Although now? Now I can say that I wish that…"

"O'Neill," Thor interrupted before the colonel could say anything that would infuriate the Goa'uld system lord any further. However, they grey alien couldn't deny the anger coming off of the human. Sighing, Thor then walked towards another console, and pressed down of several crystals while Bastet and the Colonel were glaring at each other. Thor looked through the Asgard archives and once he found what he was looking for, Thor pressed down on one of the oval crystals on the console and called everyone's attention to the hologram that just appeared.

It was the very same creature the Colonel and Bastet were talking about.

"That is the weapon, a vile creature!" hissed Bastet.

"That's the thing the snake heads sent our way," blasted the Colonel as he pointed at Bastet.

"This was not a biological weapon created by either the Tau'ri or the Goa'uld," said Thor as he walked past the hologram and then stood next to the Colonel. The tall human looked at him with an eyebrow arched upwards before saying that the Goa'uld were definitely the ones who sent the weapon since they had the most to gain.

"It was probably a test and…"

"This creature has existed from the time of the Ancients and the Alliance of Four Great Races," Thor said to the surprise of the human and the Goa'uld. Thor saw the surprised looks on their faces, and continued, "this creature is known as a Nocturna. This race is pure death and destruction. O'Neil, Bastet, this creature's race nearly brought about the fall of this entire galaxy. And if they have returned? Then they must be eliminated. They are the greater threat to all races; human and Goa'uld. May I suggest a truce?"

 **Sunnydale General, ten minutes later.**

With the Scoobies back in the waiting room after finding out that Buffy was going to be alright, and that they could see her once she was wheeled back into her room, Joyce was about to get up from her seat. She was glancing over at Teal'c and Daniel, just as the latter took a phone out of his pocket and placed it on his ear. Jayce then stood up, as did the others when Tara walked into the waiting room. Almost immediately, Dawn got off Joyce's lap and then rushed to hug Tara.

"I miss her," Dawn whispered as her arms went around Tara.

"I… I miss her too," Tara struggled to speak since her voice kept on breaking. She then looked up from the top of Dawn's head, and told the others that Ira and Sheila Rosenberg wanted to have some time alone with their daughter's body. Upon mentioning Willow's name, tears well up in Tara's eyes and her voice cracked again. As a result, the gold around he thanks to Dawn's hug tightened.

However, the blonde witch started to have an odd feeling sweep through her body. She felt cold, as if she was being watch by someone or something that hated everyone in the hospital. Tara felt goosebumps while nodding her head as Joyce wiped the tears from her eyes, and then looked over her shoulder at the tall dark skinned man at the end of the hallway with another man who had just put his phone away.

She could feel something about the taller dark-skinned man; there was a sensation of both calmness and extreme hate coming from him. Tara then looked way with confusion etched on her face; but she didn't know what to think about it. She could actually feel the emotions emanating off the man as he grew concerned, but the hate remained as another independent emotion altogether.

'As if it's coming from two people,' thought Tara as she looked over her shoulder, and then at Giles who asked her if she was feeling alright. She saw that Giles recognized the concern on her face, and asked if she sensed anything odd.

"Tara?" asked Dawn as he stepped back, "don't tell me that monster is…"

"No," she shook her head before looking over her shoulder at the two men in the distance who were looking back at their group. She saw the younger man rubbing the back of his head before looking back at the dark skinned taller man. Tara then looked at Giles and said that she was getting an odd feeling from the tall man.

While the Scoobies were discussing ways to not cause a scene in the hospital, Daniel and Teal'c started to walk towards the group. The both of them were surprised to hear about the ships in orbit, and what Colonel O'Neill had been told about the Nocturna by Thor. The both of them were told to wait for General Carter and Colonel Carter in the lobby, but once Daniel heard that the Nocturna were once defeated by the Ancients… and the suspicion that the Nocturna they killed was most likely from another world that the creatures had attacked; Daniel wondered how it was that Joyce knew about the aliens.

"If there was an attack like this involving mass murder earlier, we would have heard about it," Daniel whispered as Teal'c nodded his head while curiously glancing at Tara who continued to look away, and towards the older man who earlier had introduced himself as Giles. "that would mean that Mrs Summers is either one of these ascended beings, like Oma Desala, or…"

"Or she has come from another world," Teal'c said.

"Well, we'll soon find out," Daniel whispered, "and then maybe we'll be able to find out where she's seen it before."

"Indeed," Teal'c whispered as the approached the Scoobies who looked back at them.

"Mrs. Summers," Daniel said with his hands in his pockets, "I was hoping we could speak in private?"

TBC.


	6. Chapter 6

**Abydos, while the Asgard and Bastet's fleet squared off over Earth.**

Skaara was alive, but just barely while covered head to toe in the blood of his friends and family. But he was alive. He didn't consider himself lucky to be alive, instead, he considered himself to be dying as he lay in a pool of blood and body parts that were half eaten.

 **Abydos, thirty minutes ago.**

It was a little over twenty minutes ago that Skaara was in the lobby of the Abydos pyramid that housed the Stargate with his father and the other villagers. He and a few others were guarding the Stargate, making sure that the Goa'uld didn't step through. For emergencies, the SGC's MALP was present in the event that a call had to be put through to their Earth allies.

As Skaara lay on the wet floor, his body numb in shock from the loss of blood, he knew this was a grave emergency.

It all happened fast. Very fast. The group was having dinner when the Stargate started to dial in much to everyone's surprise. It wasn't until the third chevron was lit that the men got up and gathered their weapons, M16's and P90s from the SGC for self-defence, while the women, children, and the elderly were ushered out of the lobby and then hurried out of the pyramid to join the rest of the village ten minutes away on foot. It had been years since the Goa'uld had come through, but they could take any chances; especially it wasn't due for a visit by the SGC… which was scheduled to be in another week.

The idea was that the intruders would be either delayed or stopped by Skaraa and the defence team while the others ran for the village where they could mount a secondary defence while the women and children were hidden away in underground cellars that were built with the help of the SGC. The Abydonians were not going to be enslaved again.

The wormhole was established by the time some of the Abydonians had reached the ramp that led to the cool desert air outside the pyramid. With the others, ready to defend their home, their fingers were on the triggers ready to fire in the event that the intruders were the Goa'uld. And if it was the SGC, then they would be immediately lowering their weapons once the first man or woman stepped through. However, what stepped through stunned everyone by its viciousness.

Skaraa ordered everyone to open fire once the first creature had leaped forward through the event horizon, with a roar and killed one of the young men. Rounds were chambered into the weapons, and the bullets sent flying from the sixteen weapons as two more, then three, four, and then eight of the creatures stepped through and immediately started to attack. Blood from the people in the defence team sprayed onto Skaraa while he watched the bullets impact the scales on the creature with most of them having dug into the flesh underneath.

His hands were shaking from the recoil of the M16 he was holding as rounds flew out of the muzzle, and he gave off a scream as two of his friends were slashed… their arms were torn off and another had his abdomen ripped open. Blood sprayed the walls and the columns while screams of the humans, Skaraa included, moved back as they continued to fire.

The roars of the creatures were combined with the sounds of weapons fire which reverberated through the great lobby. Skaraa blood spattered across his clothes could see that the first few creatures, the ones that faced the brunt of the weapons fire, were weakened while the ones that continued through the Stargate attacked with a ferocity none of them had seen.

Body parts were flying everywhere and the floor was red with blood, the odour penetrating Skaara's nostrils just as he felt a slash to his side from the creature he was attacking. He could see the bullets penetrated the scales as blood poured out from the wounds, but the creature still managed to tear his clothes and the skin underneath with one swipe of its claws. Skaraa dropped the weapon as pain shot through his body while he placed a hand on the wound. Time went slow for the young man as he was hunched over while staring at the blood flowing through his fingers from the slash. He saw the creature, from the corner of his eyes, raise its clawed hand, about to strike him down.

Suddenly, he heard a yell. Skaraa glanced over his shoulder at Kasouf, his father, who was supposed to have been with the other escapees. They had rushed back with a few others and saw the nightmare happening in the lobby. The Stargate's event horizon was still active as five more creatures rushed in and then leaped over the fallen bodies and rushed towards Kasouf and his compatriots while the Nocturna that attacked Skaraa swiped its hand down. Kasouf screamed in terror, as did the others who ran out of the lobby in fear and pushed the others still running down the ramp to move as fast as possible.

And in doing so, in the panic, many fell onto the ground before being helped back up. But that delay was enough for the monsters that were coming through the Stargate to catch up to them, and then kill them. The creatures roared out into the air before they bit into the escapees.

The screams of the escapees escaped into the night for a few seconds before there was silence. On the ramp outside the pyramid, the Nocturna were eating the bodies of the dead while sniffing the air. They stared at the direction of the village in the distance, dropped the bodies, and then ran as fast as they could towards the scent of the thousands of Abydonians. To them, the dead lying in their own blood the ramp were going to be eaten on the Nocturna's way off the planet.

Back in the massive lobby, Kasouf, an old man, deftly avoided the first slash from a creature that was about to attack him. It was at that exact time that he heard a scream of pain from Skaara who had his left arm slashed from another creature. The sounds of weapon fire died out, indicating that the defenders were out of ammunition. And then there were roars as the creature attacking Skaara broke off and attacked the other defenders.

The clattering sounds being heard throughout the hall indicated that the weapons had fallen uselessly to the floor. And this was followed by screams and violent gurgles as people were being ripped apart. Kasouf rushed to his son, and then, just as Skaara was about to be slashed on his back by another creature, tackled him to the ground and lay above him protectively.

"Do not move, do not… argh!" Skaara saw his father's eyes go wide open, as did his own, when he felt a sharp blade go through his chest. Skaara looked behind his father, and at the dark-scaled creature grinning back at him with rows of sharp and bloody teeth. Skaara's eyes travelled down the scale arm of the creature and tears welled in his eyes upon seeing the single clawed finger through Kasouf's still trembling body and into Skaara's own. Breathing hard while feeling his body becoming cold, Skaara felt the warm blood from Kasouf's wound trickling down onto him. Skaara, his body in pain, turned his head as the creature roared and then came down upon the back of Kasouf's head. Skaara closed his eyes and heard 'snap', 'crunch' and 'bleahch' sounds. What he saw when he opened his eyes made him wish that the creature had killed him instantly.

The people he had known, his family and his friends, the very people who were freed from Ra years ago, were dead. He closed his eyes as tears leaked down his cheeks at having seen one of the young men he fought alongside have his spine ripped out while another creature lifted the body and started to eat the flesh. After thirty more creatures, including three larger creatures that roared out loud, arrived through the Gate, it deactivated.

The entire lobby was now left in total darkness, with the fires that had kept the Abydonians warm now extinguished.

And now, all Skaara could see were red eyes rushing around him with 'squish' sounds from feet stepping on blood and unmentionable gore. He then heard another 'crunch' sound and felt something warm trickling down his face. He knew what had happened, he saw the red eyes where his father's head would have been, and Skaara stifled a sob as the claw was pulled out. It went through his body, and then through Kasouf's body. And then he was stabbed again and again through Kasouf's body while hearing sounds of chewing from the creature.

Skaara gasped at each stab of the claw and before long, his body becoming still closed his eyes.

He wanted to let the darkness take over.

The Nocturna that had been stabbing him, for its part, still heard the young man's heart beating very slowly. It spit the chunks of bone in its mouth out before biting through Kasouf's head once again just as it heard a roar from outside calling for all Nocturna to gather. The females were calling for all their children to gather.

The Nocturna could smell the scent of humans in the distance, and it wanted to be in on the kill. It was just then that the memories that were present in Kasouf's mind made it into the Nocturna's own memories.

It saw Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c, Daniel in its memories. There were other memories of Kasouf's dead daughter, his son who was lying bleeding under the body of his dead father. The Nocturna decided to finish eating Skaara after it had killed the rest of the village.

Most importantly though, the Nocturna had Earth's stargate address.

Earth would be their next stop after the other villagers were killed, and after the barely dead in the lobby, including Skaara, were eaten.

The Nocturna then stared downwards, its eyesight perfect in the dark as it stared at the tearful Skaara who had his eyes closed. The Nocturna was absolutely certain that Skaara was unable to move. However, it still wanted a taste. So the Nocturna leaned forward and grabbed Skaara's left arm with two hands. The Nocturna then ripped off the lower part and rose up while watching the unconscious Skaara tremble slightly as it took a bite of the arm's muscle.

The Nocturna then rushed off to the others of its kind still waiting on the ramp while taking another bite off the arm.

Once it met the other Nocturna, they sniffed the air among the blood and body parts of the escapees, and then took off towards the village. The bodies the Nocturna considered 'leftovers' in the lobby were going to be their farewell meal before leaving the planet.

In a few minutes, the village of thousands of Abydonians would be destroyed. The Abydonian people would be rendered technically extinct.

 **Abydos, now.**

Skaara didn't consider himself lucky as his eyes slowly open and his body felt cold. He didn't feel the pain from the torn arm since he was in shock; both at the weight of his dead father lying on him, and from his own blood loss. He tried to push off Kasouf's body with his left arm, but he found he couldn't feel it. In fact, he couldn't feel any part of his body. However, his eyes were getting used to the darkness, and he turned his head while taking shallow breaths. And what he saw made him want to cry. The entire lower portion of his right arm was torn off.

Closing his eyes tight and releasing a silent scream, he then started to pant while turning his head to the other arm. His spirits rising a little when he noticed that it was still intact. It was bloody but intact. The young man then tried everything he could to pull his father's body off of him. He had seen his father die, he had seen everyone he ever loved die, and he was mentally pushing his body to move so that he could survive. He still had the presence of mind to try and force his body to crawl through the blood, gristle, and body parts to the MALP, and then to the DHD.

He needed to get help, to tell his friends what had happened. He could feel himself slipping away, and one part of his conscious mind was telling him to give up and lay down to rest. But the other part was yearning for revenge. He wanted to make the creatures who did this pay, and the SGC were the only people he knew who could help him.

With tears streaming from his eyes, the warm liquid causing the blood on his face to streak down, Skaara gritted his teeth and pushed his father off while mentally saying that Kasouf would be given a proper burial. Once Kasouf's body was off, Skaara panted while looking down at his blood covered clothes to make sure that he was moving since he couldn't feel anything. It was then that he saw the stab wounds. Skaara then started to feel dizzy from severe blood loss and wondered how he was still conscious; just barely consciousness.

'I.. I feel someone pushing… pushing me..' he thought while panting while the ceiling spun as he lay on his back.

"Skaara," a female voice gently whispered in his ear. Skaara closed his eyes and started to sob upon hearing the voice of his dead sister, Sha're; the former Goa'uld host. Skaara sobbed while he heard 'Sha're' whisper, "quick, my brother. You must live, you must fight. You must survive."

"Sha're," he mumbled opening his eyes slowly only to find himself surrounded by darkness. He sobbed when he heard the voice telling him gently to turn over and then crawl with all his might to the DHD.

"Fight, Skaara. Fight."

The young male then forced his body to the side, and then he shifted once again until he was laying on his stomach facing bright red blood… blood that looked black in the cover of darkness. He then turned his head towards the Stargate's DHD, and forced his right arm forward, the arm landing on some liquid and bits of flesh.

Skaara didn't even want to think of the bodies around him. He was just forcing his good arm forward, even over some bodies, as he slowly moved towards the Stargate. His greatest fear was that he would succumb to death, and then the creatures would return and finish him off.

But Sha're's voice pushed him on.

"Fight, Skaraa."

 **Control Room, SGC, five minutes later.**

General Hammond just finished talking to Daniel, telling him what Colonel O'Neill had reported from the Belisknir in regards to the Nocturna. He told Daniel to head down to the lobby with Teal'c and wait for a pick up from General Carter so that they could report back to the Cargo ship, and then head to Petersons. The General continued to say that the Asgard and Goa'uld ships over Earth were headed for a neutral planet.

The plan was for General Carter and the others to return to Stargate Command where they would then head out to the world known as P7T-656.

After speaking with Daniel, the General was about to call the President when the Stargate started to dial in.

"Unscheduled off world activation," Walter said into the microphone while the General stood behind him, his hand nearly at the phone that would connect him to the Oval Office. The General pulled his hand away from the phone while Walter called for defence teams to the Stargate. Walter then looked at the screen as the Stargate activated, and waited for the familiar ping of the SGC IDC's. However, none came through while the Iris was still closed. Walter and the General looked at the screen while the older man asked what teams they had off-world.

"SG-2, SG-8, and…"

"O…. O'Neill," a soft voice came through the speakers just as the image on the screen fizzled for a few seconds when the camera on the Abydos MALP turned on.

"This is General Hammond of the SGC," the General said as he watched the blue hue from the event horizon lighting up a vast blood covered lobby. He then simply looked on in stunned silence for a few seconds before whispering, "oh my God."

"Sir?" asked Walter with his eyes wide open as the MALP shook for a second before they saw Skaara's bloody face a few inches from the camera lens. The young man, severely weakened and fighting to remain conscious, was leaning against the MALP with his pale face and dry lips trying to speak, "isn't that..."

"Skaara," the General said as he leaned forward into the microphone, "Skaara, what happened?"

"All... all dead… help… O'Neill… help."

"Skaara, we'll get someone to you, and…"

"No," he whispered, "I…"

Suddenly everyone in the Control room heard the roar that had the panting Skaara look behind him, and then back into the camera.

"I… come…. I… come…. Sha're… Sha're… she… I see… I... coming... coming..." Skaara then vanished from the screen, as if he fell sideways while the sound of the roars were getting closer. The General wasn't able to see the panicked Skaara fall near the steps to the Stargate's pedestal before he frantically forced his body to move. He traversed one step, his tears streaking his face while he started to get dizzy the faster his heart raced.

"Open the Iris," the General ordered nce the defence teams had stepped into the Gateroom. The General remembered that Colonel O'Neill told him about the creatures being killed by projectile weapons. He was certain that Skaara was headed for the open wormhole.

"When the creatures have entered the lobby," said the General with a tinge of regret in his voice as he tapped Walter's shoulder, "close the Iris."

Walter nodded his head before he and the General stared at the image from the MALP's camera.

All the while, the Iris was open as the defence teams prepared themselves; there were seven aiming M16's at the event horizon, while two more SF's just manned the M2's on either side of the ramp.

"Come on," the General said as the roars on the screen, picked up by the microphone of the MALP, got louder just as the event horizon rippled and a bloody Skaara crawled through. Just then, rapid shadows moved at the entrance to the lobby. "Close the Iris!" yelled the General.

The Iris was closed shut just as three Nocturna, followed by more of the creatures. About half of the Nocturna that were attacking the village were sent back to the pyramid by the females. They heard the tell-tale sounds of the Stargate activating being carried through the air, and the females roared at the other Nocturna to stop anyone from escaping.

Upon reaching the lobby, the Nocturna leapt at the open event horizon. But with the Iris closed, they never had a chance to materialise in Stargate command. In the meantime, Skaara lay on the ramp while blood dripped down the gaps in the ramp and onto the floor.

All anyone heard were 'thuds' against the closed Iris while the General called for Dr. Fraiser and a medical team before he ran down to the Gateroom. In the meantime, the S.F's began to put pressure on Skaara's wounds while one tried to stop the bleeding from the torn hand. "Skaara!" yelled the General as he reached the ramp and looked down at the blood-covered young man who was looking back at him in tears.

"H… h…. help," he whispered before closing his eyes.

 **Sunnydale General Hospital.**

"In private?" Xander asked as he stood next to Giles after hearing Daniel's question bout speaking to Joyce in private, "I don't know who you guys think you are but her daughter's been badly injured and…"

"Which is why we'd like to know if she's seen this animal before," Daniel said looking at Xander before glancing at Joyce, and then looking back at Xander, "we have nothing nefarious planned and… and we would like to get to the bottom of this as well."

"I'll talk to you in private," Joyce said when Giles placed his hand on her shoulder. Giles wasn't sure if Joyce should even be talking to Daniel and the man he knew as Murray. Giles wasn't sure if Joyce was in the right mind because of her tumour. He was afraid that it was all in her head, a fantasy she made for herself to handle the demon attack. However, he still had questions on how Joyce found out about the Order of Dagon, and now there was the question of why Tara and Willow's anti-demon barrier didn't work against this particular demon.

'Was there a mistake?' thought Giles while Xander was protectively standing next to Joyce and asking Daniel and 'Murray' to explain why Joyce needed to be with them in private.

"What we have to discuss concerns National Security," answered Teal'c, who noticed the look being given by the blonde woman, Tara, who stayed with the body of the redhead from earlier that night. He noticed the looked of confusion on her face she before looking away at Xander, and then at Joyce, "it is of utmost importance."

"That animal escaped a lab, and…"

"Yea," Xander said shaking his head interrupting Daniel's explanation. Xander knew it was a demon, and he was about to tell Daniel to stop kidding around since he was certain that the government was involved in another project involving the supernatural, "we don't believe it. That was not an animal. You know exactly what it is, and…."

"Xander," whispered Giles as he looked at the young man who looked away after he stopped talking. Giles didn't know if Daniel and 'Murray' knew anything about the supernatural and the Watcher didn't want to give any indication that this could have been a supernaturally based attack on the Slayer.

"I…." Daniel was about to say something when his phone rang. The archaeologist then excused himself and walked away, pulling the phone out of his pocket and placing it to his ear while Teal'c was standing with the Scoobies.

"Did the military have anything to do with that thing that killed Willow?" said Dawn with her hands rolled into fists as she looked straight at Teal'c for some answers.

"It was not the military," Teal'c answered calmly, "which is why we are interested in…."

"Mrs Summers," said Daniel as he rushed back to Teal'c's side. Daniel's face was ashen after receiving the call from General Hamond about the critical nature of Skaara's injuries and the images of the creatures he had seen through the MALP camera's.

Daniel had mentioned, in a stunned voice, to General Hammond about Joyce having possibly encountered the Nocturna before and asked if he could talk to her about it. Once he got an answer, Daniel closed the line and rushed back to Teal'c's side where Tara noticed the sorrow, mixed in with anger, in his calm voice, "we received news of another attack."

"Oh dear God," Joyce said while placing a hand on her chest as Giles placed his hand on her shoulder. Xander and Anya looked at each other while Tara stared at Teal'c who was staring at Daniel in turn.

Tara then turned to Daniel once again who was whispering at Teal'c, who asked what happened. In return, she heard Daniel speak in a hushed tone the word 'Skaara'. Tara then noticed the look the two of them shared, a look that Daniel gave the taller man who then straightened and looked away as if he was contemplating a horror they hadn't expected. She then saw Daniel sighing before turning to Joyce once again.

"Where was the attack?" asked Giles while Xander and Anya looked at each other, and Tara tightened her hold on Dawn's hand.

"We can't tell you," Daniel whispered while Teal'c looked at the floor, and Tara could feel sadness coming from him even though he wasn't physically showing that particular emotion. And then there was the intense hatred coming off him at the same time that contradicted the sadness and concern. It confused Tara, who then heard Daniel say that all he knew was that a friend of his was badly injured.

And Tara knew that particular part of what Daniel said was true; there was another attack and his friend was badly injured.

"Please Mrs. Summers, we need to talk to you in private."

"Of… of course," Joyce nodded her head before turning to Dawn. She walked towards her daughter and pulled her in for a hug. She then whispered, while Dawn's arms encircled her and her own hands stroked the back of Dawn's head, "I'll be at the end of the hall, honey. I… I have something to tell you and Buffy when she's awake. But… but let me just talk to these people, and then I'm come back here."

Dawn nodded her head while it was on Joyce's chest. Joyce asked Tara to hold on to Dawn, and then looked at Xander and Anya before taking them to stay in the waiting room. Joyce could see that Xander didn't trust Daniel and Teal'c, and so she turned to Daniel and told him that she wanted Giles with her when they talked at the end of the hallway. She wanted Xander and the others to be certain that she was going to be safe since Giles would be accompanying her.

"I…" Daniel wanted to say that it wasn't possible, but closed his mouth when Joyce said that it was the only way. Daniel and Teal'c looked at each other with one thought going through their minds; find the planet Joyce came from so that they could find the Nocturna. Daniel then sighed before nodding his head. He then took out his phone and called General Hammond while the four of them walked to the end of the hallway, far away from the waiting room. With General Hammond on the line, Daniel informed him that Joyce would only tell them about where she encountered the 'creatures' if Giles was alongside her.

Daniel listened to the abject silence in the other line as the General rubbed his forehead in frustration before he put the phone to one side and called Walter from him office. The man then went back on the phone and wrote down Giles and Joyce's full names for a background check, "tell them, Dr. Jackson."

Once they reached the end of the hallway, the group faced each other in the rather empty hallway while Daniel put his phone down. He closed it and then slipped it into his pocket. Daniel then took a deep breath before saying, in a serious tone, that whatever they were going to talk about was covered by the National Security act and that they would be signing documents later ensuing that very fact.

"Don't leak what we're about to tell you," Daniel said as he thought about what Skaara must have gone through, "if this leaks out, you will be charged with treason and imprisoned."

"I…"

"It doesn't matter what lawyer you use," said Daniel, interrupting Giles, while he wondered what happened to his father-in-law and the other inhabitants of Abydos, "you will be sent off somewhere. I am not joking about this."

"I understand," Joyce said as she looked at Giles who was about to say something. She then whispered at him to listen what she had to say, "I'm telling you the truth, Rupert." Joyce then turned to Daniel and Teal'c, "I'm from a planet called Asherah, and…"

"Asherah?" asked Teal'c as Joyce looked at him directly before nodding her head. She wanted to ask him if the symbol on his forehead meant that he was a disciple of Asherah, but the man interrupted her by saying, "I do not know about a planet, but there was once a Jaffa of Apophis called by that name."

"Excuse me?" asked Giles as he looked at Teal'c and then at Daniel, and then back at Teal'c who continued to say that Asherah was discovered to have been hiding away slaves that belonged to Apophis about six hundred hundred years ago. Giles listened in disbelief as Joyce held his arm with her eyes wide open at hearing how Asherah died, along with several other Jaffa who had been helping Joyce's ancestors.

"Bra'tac was Apophis' First Prime," said Teal'c, "however, he has never talked about her. I heard stories of her betrayal as a cautionary tale of what would happen if your god was betrayed."

"What are you talking about?" asked Giles.

"What happened to her?" whispered Joyce.

"She was tortured when she did not disclose the planet nearly two thousand humans were relocated," Teal'c said as Joyce looked away, "she was publicly executed, with four other Jaffa."

"Jaffa?" asked Giles.

"Mrs. Summers," said Daniel gently as he ignored Giles' questions for now, "did you encounter the Nocturna… those creatures, on your planet?"

"Nocturna?" asked Joyce and Giles together.

"Is that what they are called?" asked Joyce as Daniel nodded his head. Joyce took in a deep breath then before nodding her head and saying that she did encounter the Nocturna on her planet. She told him and Teal'c her real name, and that the Nocturna attacked her village killing everyone. She continued saying that that as far as she knew, she and Artemis were the only survivors.

"Artemis is…." said Daniel as he looked behind her at the Scoobies, and then back at Joyce who whispered that Buffy was Artemis. Daniel nodded his head while Teal'c asked if she remembered the location of her ship since they could use the data to find the coordinates of the planet Asherah.

"I.. I didn't use a ship," said Joyce much to the confusion of Daniel and Teal'c while Giles listened in stunned silence. The way the two men were talking told him that they believed Joyce, that they knew something that he and, in turn, the Council did not. Giles looked at the surprise on their faces upon hearing that a woman in white took Gina and Artemis away and brought them to Earth. Giles' eyes narrowed at Daniel who asked Joyce if she could describe the woman.

While Joyce described Ganos to the both of them, Giles looked back at the Scoobies who were comforting Dawn while the latter was staring at him and her mother. HE then turned back to Daniel who asked Joyce if she had seen any ring shaped object on Asherah.

"The Great Ring," she replied nodding her head excitedly, "it.. it was how Asherah was said to have sent my ancestors to the planet. Are… are you saying that.."

"It's called a Stargate," whispered Daniel, "ten thousand years ago, an alien called Ra…"

"Ra?" asked Giles, "as in the Ancient Egyptian god of the sun?"

"Yes," said Daniel nodding his head, "he posed as the sun god. He arrived on Earth and… there are other details that you'll be told probably tomorrow by someone from the Air force. But the gist is that he was a part of an alien Species called the Goa'uld. They're parasites that take over a human body… The Goa'uld called Ra took a human body and enslaved Earth. He seeded other planets in the galaxy through a network of Stargates, an alien device built by a race older than the Goa'uld, a race we call the Ancients."

Giles listened as Daniel talked about the symbols on a Stargate which, when using the correct combination, opens a wormhole to other worlds. Giles then stared at Joyce who stared back at him, and from the look in her eyes he knew that Joyce was telling him the truth. And for the first time in a very long time, Giles didn't know what to say.

"We just received world that the Nocturna spread from Asherah to other worlds, including a planet called Abydos where… where I spent nearly a year living with the people a little over six years ago."

"Wait…. " said Giles waving his hands, "you're THAT Daniel Jackson? The one who went missing? The one I mentioned?"

"Yeah," Daniel said nodding his head before turning to Joyce, "Mrs. Summers, do you remember anything about the symbols on the Stargate on Asherah? Anything at all that could help us in finding the address?"

"I used to stare at the symbols when I was a child," admitted Joyce, "wondering what they meant and if they were a code about Asherah's location. We dreamed about meeting her, thanking her for saving our ancestors. We would hold an annual celebration in her honour and… anyway, are the symbols important?"

"They're star constellations," said Daniel wondering how he could get that information to Major Carter and the others. He hoped that if they had that information on the symbols on the Asherah Stargate, then the Major could find a way to somehow find the location of Joyce's planet and from there she could access the logs in the DHD with the help of the Asgard. That way, they would be able to figure out the destinations the Nocturna had attacked.

"I… I remember the symbols by heart," said Joyce as she remembered looking at the Ring and making various detailed drawings of it from when she was only twelve years old, "I can draw it out for you."

"That would be appropriate, Joyce Summers," Teal'c said as Joyce turned and hurried down into another hall towards a nurses station location in yet another hallway. In the meantime, Giles turned to see Dawn standing up while holding onto Tara's hand.. and he signalled at her to wait. He then turned to Daniel and Teal'c before asking them if they were going to take Joyce and Buffy away.

"No… no, of course not," Daniel said shaking his head, "Joyce and Buffy will be protected. Their identities will be protected, and where they're from will be classified. They'll have to be debriefed and, well, so will you… but they won't be taken away by the military."

"Here," said Joyce after she ran around another corner with a paper in her hand. She handed the paper with a rough drawing of all thirty-nine symbols to Daniel, who looked at it, and then thanked her. Joyce watched him fold the paper a few times before asking if there were any more of the creatures on Earth. She then breathed a sigh of relief when he shook his head, "we're safe." She then sighed before asking how many other worlds there were out there populated by humans.

"Thousands," said Daniel nodding his head before telling Joyce that she and Buffy would be able to live their normal lives, but they will still have to be debriefed, "we'll give you a number to call in case you and your daughter, or niece, feel threatened. The both of you will be protected."

"Thanks," said Joyce chuckling as she ran her hand through her hair, "now I have to tell Buffy and Dawn."

"The others in your group must not know of this, Rupert Giles, Joyce Summers," said Teal'c, "if this is leaked, then your lives will be in danger from certain parties."

"Are you sure she and Buffy will be safe?" asked Giles.

"We did it before," said Daniel referring to Cassie Fraiser, "and she's safe; about to graduate to high school soon." His phone then rang, and he picked it up before placing it on his ear. It was Major Carter saying that she and General Carter were waiting for them outside the lobby, "we'll be right down, Sam." Daniel then closed the line and placed the phone back into his pocket while looking at Joyce.

"The Stargate was found in Giza back in 1928," Daniel whispered at Joyce and Giles, "and we've been travelling through it for the past four years."

"Will you go to Asherah if you can find it's address?" asked Joyce softly as she held Giles' hand tight. Giles looked down at her as she stared at Daniel, and then turned his head towards the younger man who nodded his head. "There… there are people I…" Giles turned his head back to Joyce's profile as her eyes teared up before she shook her head, "I… would like to bury."

"How long has it been socme you were brought to Earth?" asked Daniel.

"Twenty one years," Joyce whispered, "I want to bury my parents and my sister… even if it's just their bones that remain."

"I'll talk to my Commanding Officer," whispered Daniel. Joyce then nodded her head before wiping her eyes. "We have to leave and find the address. I can't tell you much of what we'll be doing after we find Asherah, but once the planet… and the galaxy's been cleared of the Nocturna... we'll contact you once again about visiting your home."

"In the meantime," Teal'c said, "you have two daughters that need you by their side. And we have already taken too much of your time."

"We'll be in contact, Mrs. Summers," Daniel said shaking her hand, and then he shook Giles' hands before he and Teal'c turned and rushed off to the lobby. In the meantime, Giles heard Joyce take in a deep breath before they looked at each other.

"You were right," he whispered as Joyce wiped away welled up tears, "how did you remember? Why couldn't you remember before?"

"I don't know," Joyce whispered, "I just know how I can remember everything now. It's like a veil's been lifted off my mind and… and I can think clearly once again."

"Mom?" asked Dawn as she stood at the entrance to the waiting room.

"They can't know, Rupert," Joyce said as she waved at Dawn, "they can't know. As for Buffy and Dawn, I'll tell them when Buffy's awake and… and I don't know what she'll say."

"Buffy?" asked Giles as he and Joyce walked back. He saw Joyce nod her head slightly, "she'll love you either way. You saved her life, Joyce You saved your niece's life and… and you've loved her as your daughter. And you're the mother that she knows… the only one she knows. She loves you."

Joyce gave off a sad smile as Dawn ran into her arms and hugged her tight. Despite Giles' words of encouragement, Joyce was still scared to tell Buffy. But she knew it was something that needed to be done. Buffy deserved to know the truth.

TBC.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sunnydale.**

While Joyce hugged Dawn tight, she stared at Giles who was still in disbelief about what he just heard from both Teal'c and Daniel. She could see from the look in his eyes that Giles finally believed her.. that she and Buffy were both from another world. Joyce then closed her eyes and continued to hold Dawn while Giles finally figured out why the anti-demon barrier didn't work. The creature's that attacked them, the Nocturna, wasn't a demon.

It was an alien.

An honest to goodness alien from outer space. 'Then again, technically speaking, the meteorite that crashed… oh dear Lord.' Giles then shook his head before looking away from Joyce as one more thought went through his head. 'If that Nocturna wasn't in the meteorite, that what was? Where is the Queller demon?' Giles then rubbed his forehead before shaking his head while placing his hands on his own waist. The demon was still out there and they already had three casualties; Willow and Riley were dead, and Buffy was badly injured.

And the Queller demon was still out there.

"Xander, come with me back to Sunnydale Mercy hospital," Giles said to the surprise of Xander and the others, "the Queller demon's still here. It's most…"

"The demon's dead, Giles," Anya said as she narrowed her eyes in confusion while Xander jumped in. "That thing that killed Willow was the demon. Right?"

"That's why the government was here, that's what the Army boys took away, and…."

"That was an experiment by the government that went rogue," Giles interrupted Xander before continuing with a worried tone in his voice. Giles made a promise to keep the secret of aliens out there, and that's what he planned to do. He was not going to put Joyce and Buffy's lives at risk, "the Queller demon's still out there and now it has floors full of mentally ill patients. We need to save them. Buffy's still recovering from her attack, but by the time she fully heals... then it would be too late. The Queller demon could have moved on."

"I…."

"We'll stay here," Tara interrupted Xander while she held her hands clasped together. She could feel that Giles was telling the truth about the Queller demon, but knew he was lying when he mentioned that the demon that attacked them was simply an 'experiment'. And it led to her wondering why Giles was lying to them. However, the continued existence of the Queller demon worried her. "I'll be here with Mrs Summers and Dawn."

"Anya, Xander," Giles said once again nodding his head at the witch, "I need you with me." Giles then hurried walked away down the hall after one last glance between himself and Joyce. He had to think, not just about the situation with Joyce and Buffy being from another world; but also about the question of informing the Council. He wondered if the Military could be trusted with the knowledge of who Buffy and Joyce were, but that thought was quickly pushed aside. He suspected that Quentin Travers would try to test how Buffy, an alien, became a Slayer.

And there was no way that Giles was putting her and Joyce in danger, he mentally repeated to himself. As he walked away with Xander and Anya close behind him, Giles looked behind his should one more time to see Joyce still hugging Dawn tight. Her eyes were closed shut as he arms were wrapped around her younger daughter.

Giles wondered how Joyce would take the fact that Dawn was a magical construct given life by the monks of Dagon. The very same people to whom the mysterious woman in white had taken Gina and Artemis. 'Her memories, our memories, were changed to reflect Dawn's presence. How will Joyce take it when she realizes she only has the memories of Dawn being real? How will she take it when she realizes that she didn't really give birth to Dawn? Buffy is really her niece, and Dawn is a magical construct made human- Joyce… Joyce could be devastated.' Giles then and there made the decision not to tell Joyce anything yet about Dawn.

But they needed a way to defeat Glory first. That was their first task. And then, once Glory was taken care of, Giles could take Joyce aside and tell her the truth.

'Yes,' Giles thought after reaching the end of the hallway and then making a turn into another hallway, 'Glory is the problem we need to solve first. And then… then we need to examine Joyce's brain once again for the tumour. I need to know why she's suddenly so upbeat. She said that she's been thinking clearly for the first time in a long time, and I wonder… it's a theory I have that admittedly needs more thought. But the theory depends on the results of another MRI. Let me get back first… then I'll discuss it with Joyce.'

As Giles walked away, Joyce hugged Dawn while Tara placed her hand gently on Joyce's shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm so sorry, Tara," whispered Joyce as she pulled in Tara for a hug. "I know Willow will be watching over you. She loved you so much."

"I loved her too," Tara whispered into Joyce's ear. The three of them stood in a big hug; holding onto each other for comfort.

 **Sunnydale General Hospital, Morgue, at that same time.**

It's a strange feeling staring at yourself lying on a metal slab, at least that was what Willow thought to herself as she walked around her body covered in a white cloth. After one circle round the body, Willow brought her arms up, and stared at her opaque limbs, and then at her opaque body before nodding her head impressed.

"So, I'm a ghost now or what?"

She then chuckled before wondering if she could play tricks on Buffy, Xander, and Dawn, and then her thoughts turned to Tara, and she immediately felt sick.

'Can a ghost even feel sick?' she thought to herself while circling her body once again. Her finger's brushing against the cold table. Willow was surprised that she could actually even feel the cool from the metal. She then looked up at her parents who were sitting side by side guarding her body while Ira had his arm around Sheila's shoulder. Pulling Sheila close as she wiped a tear, Willow could hear Ira offering prayers while Sheila sobbed as her head moved down to lie on Ira's chest. Willow stared at them and felt a life that was unfulfilled; her own. Willow felt their sadness and loneliness now that she was gone… and it hurt her.

Willow sighed and brought her hands to her chest where the clawed creature stabbed her from behind. It had gone dark right after she was stabbed through the heart, and now she found herself in the morgue.

She didn't know why was here, or why her soul hadn't entered the ether. She wondered if her ties to Tara kept her back in this dimension, and then wondered why Tara hadn't felt her. Willow mentally told herself that Tara was a powerful witch and that she should be able to know that her spirit was still hanging around.

"Unless she's overcome with emotion," Willow whispered as she stared at her crying mother.

"Our miracle child," Ira whispered with a cracked voice as he stared at the body.

"Miracle?" Willow asked as she walked through the table and her physical body until she was on one knee in front of her father, "Dad? Miracle?" Willow knew what they couldn't hear her since Ira closed his eyes and lowered his head while bringing his right hand across his chest to stroke the side of Sheila's head.

"You were indeed a miracle, Willow," a female voice said from behind the redhead. Willow got up and then turned around to find a red-haired woman in white looking back at her. They were standing on opposite sides of Willow's physical body. Willow stared at the woman who looked to be in her mid-forties, but her eyes told the younger redhead that her looks belied her true age. She was about Willow's height, she had brown eyes, long red hair that went up to the small of her back that bobbed slightly as she walked around the table. Willow could see that she strode slowly with grace and authority while approaching her as she took a few steps back.

"You're the grim reaper, aren't you?" Willow asked.

"I am not," the woman said softly as she turned her head and stared at Sheila and Ira. "Thank you, Ira and Sheila Rosenberg."

"Why are you thanking my parents?" asked Willow, "and what did you mean that I was a miracle." Willow then realized what she said and shook her head while waving her arms wildly before correcting herself, "Yea, I know all children are miracles, but the way dad said it was almost as if there was something different about me."

"Sheila was barren," the woman in white gently said as she stared at the crying woman. Willow narrowed her eyes in confusion while the woman then continued talking, "she could not have a child. And they desperately desired a child."

"So that mom could try out her theories in…"

"She loved you more than you would ever know," the woman interrupted Willow as she looked up at the young redhead, "Ira and Sheila may have made some mistakes after become renowned, but they did everything to give you a good life. So that you would not want for anything, and it was that drive that led to your loneliness growing up." The woman then looked back at Sheila and whispered in a very low voice, "they had a life that I was never able to have with my own daughters."

Willow wasn't able to get what the woman in white just said. The whisper as so low that Willow asked the woman to repeat herself. The woman then shook her head before looking up at Willow once again.

"There are sides to every story, Willow," the woman said, "I'm here to show you another side of your story. Another side that you have never realized since that information has been hidden from you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was there when you died," the woman whispered as Willow's eyes went wide, "I am forbidden to interfere in this plane of existence, which is why I could not save you then. But I am making you an offer now. An offer to be who you once were with those memories, powers, and knowledge fully restored."

"I don't understand," Willow interrupted the woman, "another life? Another set of memories? Powers? I mean I already have powers, or at least had powers, and…" Willow then stopped talking before she titled her head, "are you a demon pretending to be the Reaper? I mean this is a hospital and Buffy did face a demon once that sucked souls, and…."

"I am none of those things," the woman said with a shake of her head. "But I can show you the truth of the universe. I can show you who you once were, and how you became to be who you are now. You have a choice, Willow. One is to slowly vanish into the ether where you would be energy in an an endless ocean of eternity losing all sense of self as you enter the universe. Or you could become something more. A being of living energy with her own sense of self. You will gain vast knowledge and the ability to add to that knowledge. However, you cannot interfere in the lower planes of exitance."

"A higher being?" asked Willow, "wait, are you one of the Powers that Be?"

"No," the woman said with a chuckled, "I am one of an ancient race that died out thousands of years ago. As are you."

"Excuse me?" asked Willow in surprise. Her voice pitch high as she stepped back a step.

"It will all be revealed to you," said the woman taking a step forward. Willow saw kindness in her eyes that was mixed with a touch of sorrow. Willow wondered why a higher being could ever feel sorrow. And then Willow realised that he felt sorrow herself for losing Tara- for not being able to be with her, for not being able to hold her hands, or touch her, or hug her. Thinking about Tara brought tears to Willow's eyes and she looked away from the woman in white."

"She loves you," the woman said as Willow looked back at her, "Tara Maclay. I have seen her future, she will shine as bright as a star. And you will watch her grow. Unable to interfere in her development." The woman then tilted her head while Willow thought about returning back to the physical plane of existence after she became a higher being. The older redhead then smiled before saying, "that's not how it works, Willow."

"Excuse me?" asked the redhead.

"Yes, you can descend after you ascend," said the woman as Willow widened her eyes realising that the woman was able to read her mind, "but doing so now would force the Others to wipe your memories and place you in a location where you would never be able to see Tara ever again. You will not remember her, nor who you are. IS that what you want?"

"No," Willow whispered looking away. She did not want to forget Tara. Willow didn't want to forget the love of her life.

"What would you like for me to do?" asked the woman as she stepped closer to Willow.

"I want to see Tara," Willow replied with a crack in her voice, "I don't want to forget her. I don't. I want to remember her. I want to remember me, Dawn, Buffy, Mrs. Summers, and… and Xander. I want to remember Xander."

"Then close your eyes," the woman said as she placed her hands on both of Willow's cheeks. Willow closed her eyes as she felt a warmth go through her body. The woman watched Willow's incorporeal form glow white while her physical body remained still as her parent stayed beside it. From her perspective, the woman let go of Willow when there was a brilliant flash of white light followed by a ball of energy falling from thin air as it shot into Willow through her chest. Once it entered her, Willow opened her eyes and gasped. Memories started to flood through her mind as If a dam had burst; memories of a time long gone… memories of a young brunette, memories of a city of towers sinking beneath the ocean, memories of a dark skinned female dressed in rags with white paste plastered on her face, memories of a weapon being handed to a group of women. Once those memories passed, Willow stepped back and the glow around her started to subside.

Willow found herself in a white strapless dress with golden fractal embroidery on her chest before she stared at the older redhead standing in front of her. And a smile formed on their faces. Willow closes her eyes as she took in a deep breath. She smiles at her memories… all of her memories. They were restored, as well as her knowledge, her powers and her immortality. She then opened her eyes again and stared at the woman in front of her.

"Welcome back, Athena," the woman said, "or would you rather still be called Willow?"

Willow simply looked at the woman, and smiled.

 **Argos, 1300 hours.**

Kynthia heard the bloodcurdling scream from the temple of Pelops. Along with several others in the town, she ran for the temple only to find a scene of horror as she and several others stood several feet away from the bottommost step that would lead them to the interior of the temple. She had her hand over her mouth, her eyes open in horror,, as she stared at the blood trickling down the steps, and body parts scattered on the marble floor and steps.

And then she and the others saw the monster holding a half-eaten head in its hands. Kynthia took a few steps back as the creature roared. Soon, there was movement behind it. Three, four, seven, ten, and even more creatures appeared; all covered in blood.

All roared out at the townspeople.

Kynthia knew that there were twenty people in the temple; sixteen children and four adult Argosians, as well as three officers from the SGC who were there to give medical check-ups to the children. Kynthia had a cold feeling in her heart when she wondered about the twenty people, and then she heard more roars from the inside.

And her heart fell when she saw the half eaten blonde haired head of one of the adult Argosians, and the scattered arms and body parts of the SGC team; she could tell it was the SGC team from the bloodied pieces of the uniform that covered the body parts. Kynthia didn't even want to think about what happened to the others as she shook her head and took several steps back.

Some of the women and men in the ever-increasing group cried out for their loved ones, others tried to storm the temple. But they were pulled back by the rest at the sight of over forty monsters in the temple. There were roaring at the townspeople, but they weren't stepping out into the sunlight.

It was as if they feared the light.

Kynthia turned to the crowd around her and told them to take shelter, "the others from Stargate Command will come. The others will come to save us. For now, we must help ourselves. Order an evacuation."

Kynthia turned back to the creatures as they roared at the townspeople. She could have sworn that one of the monsters was staring at her, and licking its lips before snarling with a show of rows of sharp teeth. Kynthia couldn't help but shudder. She turned and ran with the other people, some of whom were comforting the parents who had lost their children, towards the town. She heard some of the elders in the group yelling at the others to seek shelter… eventually the bell in the tall white tower in the middle of the town started to chime loudly.

The elders than ordered everyone to evacuate as far as they could from the town. As people gathered what they could, as they gathered their family, Kynthia grabbed the picture Colonel O'Neill had sent her in a brown envelope. It was of him standing at the observation deck at the summit of Cheyenne Mountain. Kynthia received it two months ago when SG-2 arrived to check-in on the Argosians.

She still considered him her husband despite the unusual circumstances behind their union. And Kynthia held out hope that Colonel O'Neill would somehow come through the Stargate and help them. That he would save her.

'Please, Jack,' Kynthia thought to herself as she ran out of her home, 'help us.'

 **TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sunnydale, thirty minutes later.**

Buffy looked around the hallway full of students as she walked through with her arms tight across a book against her chest. She felt her heart beating, she could feel herself taking in air through her nose and the exhaling through the mouth. She could feel the brush of students rushing past her to get to their classes as the bell rang.

But Buffy still walked through the hallway. Her shoes hitting the hard floor as she continued to walk while looking ahead. Her blonde hair was just as it was when she first came to Sunnydale with a white tank top under a light green shirt and red skirt that ended just above her knees. Buffy felt the cool air from the air-conditioning system brush against her arms and legs. She felt a warm brush against her cheeks as she suddenly stopped and turned to the left.

She looked at the closed glass doors that led to the quad. Buffy took in a deep breath as she passed a drinking fountain. And she stopped. Buffy turned her head towards the fountain and remembered first seeing Willow. The redhead was drinking water when Cordelia took her to go away, and Buffy watched the nervous young woman scamper away. Buffy watched Willow go through a door, and the disappear before turning back to Cordelia who told Buffy that she needed to watch out for Willow.

She told Buffy that the redhead could be a factor against her 'coolness' in the school.

Buffy shook her head as tears gathered in her eyes after finding herself in the school hallway once again. She remembered Willow's face after the black scaled creature stabbed its claws through her chest. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Buffy stood in the empty hallway and took a deep breath, and only then did she walk on towards the glass doors.

Back to a simpler time, that's what Buffy wanted. A time when it was her just her, Xander, Willow, and Giles fighting against the forces of darkness and trying to get through school. The four of them saving the world; with Buffy dying and then coming back to life. She loved them all. She loved Giles as one would love a father, she loved Xander as a brother, and Willow… Willow was her best friend. Buffy loved her for simply being who she was.

'And I killed her,' Buffy thought to herself as she walked out the doors and into the sunlight. She walked towards the quad and could hear the sound of the water fountain. She walked past several other students before she turned and walked onto the grass towards a bench. Buffy stopped next to the bench and simply gazed at it, as if she was recalling a time that was long gone. Buffy remembered Willow sitting there with a brown lunch bag in her hand. Buffy smiled as a tear slipped down her cheek and remembered the nervous Willow asking her if Buffy needed her to leave after the latter introduced herself.

"That's how we became friends," Buffy whispered at no one as she stared at the empty granite bench, "and because of that day…" Buffy closed her eyes as her heart fell when she remembered Willow's body bleeding out onto the carpet in the living room, the redhead's eyes were lifeless but still staring at her best friend. Buffy lurched forward as she released a quick sob before she dropped her book onto the ground. She sat down on the bench as she stared at the site where Willow once sat down and dry heaved while tears flowed down her face. Buffy looked away and cried as she leaned forward and placed her hand over her eyes. "Tara…" she whispered between sobs, her voice broken, "how can she forgive me for not being fast enough. How can Xander? How… oh God, Will… I… I should have been faster and…"

"You did everything you could, Buffy," a familiar voice said as Buffy snapped her head upwards. Her cheeks were stained with trails of tears as her eyes opened wide while she slowly stood up. The figure stepped back as a stunned Buffy got to her feet and stared at the smiling redhead standing in front of her. A redhead with red lipstick, hair up to her shoulders, and wearing a white off shoulder dress; a redhead that Buffy saw die.

"Will?" Buffy asked. Willow nodded her head as she took a step forward, as did Buffy who practically leaped into the redhead's arms and hugged her tight. The both of them held each other tight, their chins on each other's shoulders while Buffy took in a cent of strawberry.

Buffy held Willow tighter. She wanted to see if Willow was real. If she was alive.

And it was the scent of strawberries, the warmth emanating from the redhead, and the fact that Buffy could feel Willows breath on her shoulder told the former that the redhead was alive. Buffy's mind flooded with questions as she gently pulled away and looked into Willow's eyes, eyes that were now full of life. Among Buffy's many questions, including if Willow was a part of her dream, the primary question was 'How'.

"How?" Buffy asked, her voice quivering as her arms were on Willow's shoulders, while Willow had her hands on Buffy's arms. Willow knew what was running though Buffy's head… the former didn't mean to mentally pry into her best friend's mind, a benefit thanks to the return of her former abilities as an Ascended, but the blonde Slayer was mentally screaming in joy and confusion. In the distance though, Willow could hear a rumbling sound even through the sky above her was sunny and clear. Willow knew that the Others were watching her. Willow closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before opening her green orbs once again and smiling at Buffy.

"I'm here," Willow said as she gently squeezed Buffy's arms, "I… I have somewhere else I have to go, something else I have to do."

"I don't understand," Buffy asked as she stared into Willow's eyes and then looked down at her dress and then back up to her eyes once again, "are you… I mean, given that we've seen demons of all kinds but even this is a bit weirded out for me and… well, what I wanted to ask is, are you an angel?"

"No," Willow chuckled shaking her head. The both of them were holding onto each other as Buffy started to chuckled as well. After calming down a minute later, Willow took a deep breath and smiled at Buffy as she placed a hand on her cheeks, "what happened to me wasn't your fault, Buffy."

"I…"

"I chose to fight evil with you, Buff," Willow gently said as she looked into Buffy's eyes, tilted her head, and then smiled, "I chose that life."

"I should have been faster," Buffy whispered recalled the moment she started running for Willow just before she was stabbed through her back.

"You did your best," Willow whispered as they leaned their foreheads against each other with Willow taking in the vanilla scent from Buffy's hair. She remembered the first day they met, the first day that Buffy rescued her from vampires, the first day they became the Scooby Gang. Willow remembered it all while saying, "I knew the choice I took may led to this. I knew that choice may lead to me dying one day, Buff." Willow continued to say that it wasn't something she thought about much that first time just before the Harvest, but it was in the back of her mind. "I wanted to fight with you. I wanted to help you, Buffy."

"But…"

"That's why I hacked computers to get information, why I helped with research, that's why I started learning magic… I knew what I was doing would help you, Buffy. It was my choice to make. Not yours, not Giles', and not Xander's." Willow then closed her eyes and whispered, "oh God I'll miss Xander so much."

Buffy stared at Willow, and knew she was telling the truth. Buffy warned her about taking on the fight against the darkness that was supposed to be the Slayer's responsibility to fight alone. Buffy also knew that there was nothing she, or anyone for that matter, could do anything to stop Willow. The redhead opened her eyes and looked straight into Buffy's orbs, "I can't stay for too long, Buffy. I can't interfere in the lower plains of existence."

"But here you are," Buffy whispered as she held on tight to Willow while wondering what it was that the redhead meant, "Will… I…"

"I'm just here to tell my best friend that what happened to me was not her fault," Willow spoke, interrupting what Buffy wanted to say. "I'm here to tell my best friend that it was my choice… my own free will that made me proud to fight beside you." Buffy had tears going down her cheeks as she closed her eyes while their foreheads continued to touch each other, "and now… now I have to go. I have things to see, people to meet."

"Oth… other angels?" asked Buffy as Willow chuckled before pulling back, the both of them still holding onto each other.

"You'll see, one day," Willow said as she moved her arms from around Buffy's back, and placed her hands on either side of the Slayer's face, "tell Tara I love her."

"I will," Buffy said, with puffy red eyes.

"And… and Buffy," Willow whispered, "don't blame your mother for anything. Joyce loves you."

"I…." Buffy confused shook her head as Willow let go of her cheeks and started to glow, "Will? Of course, I know that mom loves me, and… Will?" Buffy watched as Willow continued to glow white.

"I'll be around, Buffy," Willow smiled before she flashed white and vanished. Buffy was alone in the quad as she looked around at her surrounding, but all she saw were students walking about; and then everything around her flashed white while she heard the sound of beeping in the distance.

"Will?"

 **The Control Room, SGC.**

Back on Argos, the Nocturna that tore apart and then ate the fallen members of the SG team absorbed the knowledge of Stargate operations on Earth. And that included the IDC code that would enable the Control Room in the SGC to open the Iris. The Nocturna also absorbed information on the location of the SGC's Alpha Site. The three Nocturna that had been eating the brains of the three officers from **SG** -8 looked at each other with grins as their blooding lips parted to show the rows of sharp teeth. The three of them then headed back into the temple where the group of nearly fifty monsters were waiting for the sun to set.

The three of them roared at each other before making growling sounds to relay their plans. One of them was going to take a group to Earth while another was going to take a group to the Alpha Site. And the third Nocturna was going to stay with the others in Argos, waiting for the sun to set so that they could satiate their hunger.

Once of the Nocturna then stepped back and walked towards the deactivated Stargate, its feet landing on pools of blood and body parts. The air in the temple was filled with the odour of death as the Nocturna sauntered to a torn arm, and beside it was a bloodied upper body of one of the SG team members. The head was torn off while another Nocturna had just pulled off another arm and was currently eating the flesh.

The Nocturna that had eaten the man's brain ignored the others as it bent down and tore apart the vest the headless and armless body was wearing. It wasn't too long before there was the sound of a thud from a light green rectangular device that fell onto the blood covered marble. It picked up the device with its claws and then stared at it; the Nocturna saw the number panel on one side of the device, and a screen on the other side. Next to the screen were two LED lights, one glowing red, and the other one wasn't glowing. But the Nocturna understood enough that it needed for the red light to deactivate, and the other light… a green light… had to be glowing for it and its kind to go through.

The creature reared its head back and then roared, signalling the other of its group- assigned by one of the off-world females- to meet it at the Stargate. They were going to Earth… they were going to feast on the SGC personnel.

Back in the Control Room, Walter stared at the computer when the alarms blared as the Stargate started to dial in. "Unscheduled Off-World activation," he said as one chevron after another lit up while he placed a hand on the palm scanner to his right side. Once the scanner scanned his palm, the Iris closed at the event horizon just as General Hammond rushed down the stairs.

"Who is it, Walter?" asked the General as Colonel Ferretti and SG-2 rushed down the stairs behind him. The team was having a briefing for their upcoming mission when the alarms blared. And then, with a 'whoosh' sound and rippling blue and white light reflecting on the wall behind the Stargate, the computer next to Walter beeped upon getting a IDC code.

"It's SG-8, Sir," Walter said looking back at the General. General Hammond leaned forward and grabbed a microphone and then spoke, "Major Kelly, you've dialled in early. Is everything alright?"

The General and the other stared at the Iris covered Stargate on Earth while, on Argos, the Nocturna holding the IDC was waiting for the signal to get through to the IDC; a signal that would activate the green light, indicating that the Iris was retracted. Upon seeing that the red light was still glowing, the Nocturna holding the device reared its head and roared in anger.

And then he heard a male voice coming from the MALP to its left. The monster walked growling in anger to the device while the others moved out of its way. In the meantime, General Hammond ordered the camera on the arm of the MALP to be activated. And once it was, the people in the Control Room saw the horror in front of them.

"Oh god," said Lt. Pearson of SG-2 as she put her hand over her mouth at the blood and gore covering the creatures growling, roaring, and some even still eating body parts. The General looked down at Walter, and then at the stunned Colonel Ferretti before shaking his head.

It was then that he realized SG-8 was dead. As were the people in the temple.

"Sir," Walter whispered, "what about the Argosians?"

"Sir," Colonel Ferretti said as he stared at the screen, "is.. is that the Nocturna you wanted us to watch out for on P8R-428?" The General nodded his head at the Colonel before he looked away. With SG-1 having left for neutral territory to meet with the Goa'uld and Asgard ships through the Stargate, the General knew that he had to get the other teams ready. Argos was an allied world, and they were in danger.

"Walter," said the General before he suddenly jumped back when a Nocturna roared into the camera, and then picked up the MALP. Everyone watched as the camera on the MALP's arm showed them a sea of Nocturna before the device was slammed into the floor. Everyone then watched the camera fizzle out before the screen went blank. And then there were more roars followed by the sounds of metal being crushed. And before the General could continue his previous thought, the Stargate deactivated.

"How did they dial Earth?" whispered one of the technicians while the others were staring at the blank screen in stunned silence.

It was then that the General's eyes went wide. He remembered what Colonel O'Neill relayed to him based on information from the Asgard; that the Nocturna gain the knowledge of their kills after having eaten them.

"Walter," the General said with worry in his voice, "contact the Alpha site, now!"

"Sir?" asked the technician as he looked back at the General.

"Dial the Alpha site now!"

It was a race now. With the Stargate on Argos deactivated, the enraged Nocturna that picked up the MALP and then slammed it into the ground had memories of the SG-8 team members training at the Alpha site. And that training was alongside several other Marine teams and S.F's. As well as other auxiliary personnel; a total of just over one hundred and thirty-three. The Nocturna knew this, and began dialling out.

As did the SGC.

And it would be a few seconds later that the Stargate in the Alpha site activated. Alarms blared as defence teams rushed to the room containing the Stargate, as per protocol, and aimed their weapons at the event horizon.

And they waited for a signal from the SGC that someone was coming through the Gate.

TBC.


	9. Chapter 9

**Alpha Site, a second later.**

The Alpha Site Stargate was active.

The defence teams were ready to stand down once they received the signal from the SGC that someone was making an unscheduled stop to the Alpha Site. It had taken two more seconds with the Marines aiming their weapons at the event horizon, but there were no signals or any ripples on the event horizon that indicated someone was coming through. One of the Marines felt a tug in his gut as he stared at the event horizon. He wondered if it had something to do with the fact that this was the fourth time he had seen the Stargate activate ever since he was transferred to the Alpha Site a month ago.

The sight of the blue 'pool' gave him goosebumps, and it indicated to him that he wasn't on Earth anymore Instead, he was standing on another planet, twenty thousand light years away from Earth. He was breathing the air on another planet, and it excited him to no end.

He liked being on the Alpha Site with his fellow Marines. It had only been a month but the team of seven Marines in charge of defending the Gate had become like family. And that family was about to find out that there are worse beings than the Goa'uld in the galaxy.

Finally, the event horizon of the Stargate rippled, and the Marines in the defence team and the other Airmen in the Gateroom widened their eyes in horror at the nightmares that jumped through the Stargate. Before a weapon could be fired, five of the creatures leapt, their arms and claws outstretched before them, through the Stargate with roars escaping their mouths. The humans in the room had no chance… absolutely none at all. Six more of the roaring creatures rushed into the room, ripping apart the men and women. An airman, at the first sight of the creatures, shot out of his chair and rushed to panel on the wall behind him.

He slammed his fist into the button, pushing it down just as he heard a crunch sound from behind, and then felt warm liquid trickling down his back. One of the Nocturna bit the back of the Airman's head off, skull and all, while at the same time stabbing its claws through his back. But it was too late, the airman already slammed his fist into the button... and the klaxons were spinning while the alarms blared.

While the Marines were shredded before their weapons could even be fired; with blood erupting violently from gashes on their bodies after their scalps, throats, and arms were cut off and the bodies allowed to fall onto the floor. The two other airmen reached for their holsters and were about to take out their guns, but they were stabbed by one of the Nocturna… it claws on both hands buried through both Airmen's chests- one on each side. The last thing they saw was the Nocturna's red eyes.. the last thing they smelled was the odour of blood from the Nocturna's roar.

And then there was darkness.

The klaxons in the Alpha site Gateroom went off and the alarms blared. The Nocturna in the room roared out while the door that led to the rest of the base started to slowly slide downwards as a security measure.

But that couldn't happen. Three of the Nocturna rushed to the metal door and put their hands on its bottom edge, using their strength to hold the door open for as long as they could. They could hear the sounds of footsteps coming down the hall and so, while the three Nocturna held the door open... slowing it down from sliding closed, the other Nocturna dashed into the hallways beyond the door. Once all of them were through into the hallway beyond, the three Nocturna slipped into the hallway and let the door continue to slide down.

In the meantime, back at the SGC, the Stargate's seventh and final chevron to the Alpha site could not lock. General Hammond stared at the Stargate for a second before turning to Colonel Ferretti. And it was the look on the General's face that told the Colonel everything he needed to know. The Colonel nodded his head before saying that he will get his team, SG-2, ready.

"I want heavy weapons load-outs, Colonel," General Hammond said as the Colonel nodded his head before turning and heading up the stairs where the rest of his team were reading the briefing packets. He ordered them to get ready while General Hammond ordered Walter to contact two more SG teams. "And keep on dialling the Alpha site."

"Yes, sir," Walter said before he began dialling the Stargate once again. "Chevron One engaged."

Back to the Alpha Site, while Walter was dialling the Gate, screams and the sounds of gunfire could be heard as the Nocturna, like wild animals, ran into the hallways and started to ravage each man or woman they found. There were screams from people, the roars from the Nocturna, and finally there were the gunshots. Out of nearly two hundred men and women in the base, only ninety survived the onslaught; the majority of deaths being scientists and medical personnel working at the off-site base. The Nocturna were slowly being taken down by weapons fire- handguns, M16's, P90's- all of the Tau'ri Kinetic Energy Weapons were being used to kill the invaders.

But the damage done was massive; lives were lost, equipment was destroyed, experiments that had been going on for years would have to be restarted. But it was the first sight of the bodies that the remaining survivors laid eyes on that made most of them sick to their stomachs; body parts were everywhere- the Nocturna lay dead, their bodies riddled with bullet holes in various areas of the base. They lay on the blood covered floor which gave off a sickening 'squelching' sound when the survivors stepped into them to check on the rest of the base for any surviving Nocturna.

The arrival of the monsters was a shock. The Alpha Site personnel were used to training for battle against the Jaffa, but the creatures that ravaged the hallways were another deadly race. The personnel used energy weapons at first, but that didn't work on the Nocturna, it only slowed them down. It was the last message from Colonel Pierce, the base commander, that the entire base found out about the effectiveness of the Kinetic Energy Weapons.

His body was found ripped to pieces hours later, parts of his torso and arms were eaten were eaten while a severed left hand was holding onto a Zat. And his severed right arm was holding onto a handgun with an empty magazine and shells all over the floor. It was the Colonel who, just before he died, ordered the use of their Kinetic weapons after he yelled through the base communication system that he slowed one of them down.

And that was the last anyone heard before the Nocturna destroyed the communication system, and that was only three minutes into the attack as the fifteenth Nocturna leapt through the Gate. And the Stargate then closed. While the Gate was being redialled with an incoming wormhole from the SGC, the Nocturna made their way through the base.

To the personnel in the base, it seemed the battle had gone on for hours when in reality it had only been ten minutes. But in that ten minutes, the Nocturna eviscerated the base. Eventually, the survivors were met by three SG teams, including SG-2 who killed four surviving Nocturna using M16's and grenade launcher in one of the hallways.

The survivors and the SG teams stood in one of the blood soaked hallways before they continued onwards to finding more survivors.

 **The orbit of Planet Designated P0T-529, Asgard ship Belisknir.**

While the five Asgard ships and the Goa'uld ships were in orbit of P0T-529, Colonel O'Neill listened in stunned silence to Daniel, Colonel Carter, Teal'c, and General Carter telling him about the nightmare that happened on Abydos. They told the stunned man, while Thor and the other Asgard, as well as Bastet and some of her female Jaffa, listened in stunned silence. Bastet knew better than to even attempt to enjoy the plight of the humans standing in front of her, especially since her planet and Jaffa were slaughtered at the claws of the Nocturna. She and her Jaffa were standing on the other side of a circular metallic grey table whispering to themselves while listening to the descriptions of scenes that Daniel and the others had seen through the MALP.

And that was followed soon by the condition of the man called Skaara; the only survivor of Abydos. At least the only one they knew off.

"He looked really bad, Jack," Daniel whispered while General Carter and his daughter stood side by side, "one arm was completely torn off and… and he had stab wounds, and…" Daniel took a deep breath remembering the young man he lived with for a year. Daniel remembered Sha're and mentally apologised for not being able to protect her brother, he remembered Kassouf, he remembered the other Abydonians he had become friends with in that year.

All of them were now either dead or dying.

"He was lucky he survived," General Carter whispered before he turned and glared at Bastet. He was already told about the uneasy alliance with the Goa'uld System Lord in this battle against the Nocturna, but he still felt uneasy. And it was the same with Selmak. "The creatures… these Nocturna destroyed the MALP so we couldn't see anything that was going on when we returned to the SGC."

"But the recorded visuals were…" breathed Major Carter as she recalled the blood and gore that the camera had recorded before the Stargate deactivated following Skaara's return to Earth, "they were…" Major Carter stared at the Colonel. She was unable to come up with a word to describe what they had seen after checking in on Skaara.

But her mind was blank. The Major pursed her lips together and shook her head, and that it all that took for Colonel O'Neill to understand that what happened to Skaara was really, really bad. He sighed and then turned to Thor before asking if they could head to Abydos, "we need to save as many as we can. And.. and then…"

"Abydos is dead," Bastet said in the typical Goa'uld gravelly voice. He stared at the Colonel as she turned to face him and the other humans before continuing, "there are other worlds- human, Jaffa, and alien, that are in danger."

"I never expected a Goa'uld to be so concerned about the welfare of humans," General Carter sarcastically said while the Colonel was putting his hands into his trouser pockets.

Bastet simply smiled before saying, "I simply want a pool of humans for my new breed of Jaffa. After the system Lords fall, I will be the last one present."

"Do you believe we will let that happen?" Teal'c asked while his hands were behind his back.

"I believe you will not have much of a choice," Bastet said with a smirk on her face, "the other System Lords being attacked will want to prove their godhood, and so they will lead the charge against these monsters. And they will die. I will be the last."

"Oh?" Major Carter asked.

"The Tau'ri have no ships, and the Asgard…" Bastet then looked down at Thor who looked up at her, "well, the Asgard seems to be very busy as of late." Thor looked back at the Colonel, and then back at Bastet who continued, "I have seen your other ships. The situation is so dire that more Asgard vessels should have been sent here in this galaxy. Since they are not here then, well… that would imply something is taking their attention away."

"What do you desire?" Thor asked.

"Thor?" the Colonel asked while staring at the little grey alien. Thor looked at the taller man, and then back at Bastet and her Jaffa. He hoped that Thor wasn't about to do or say something that would endanger them all. And almost immediately, he mentally kicked himself, 'let's see what happens.'

"Survival," Bastet said.

"I….." Colonel Carter was about to tell Bastet in no uncertain terms that she and the other surviving System Lords wouldn't be let off to enslave more humans. However, Thor interrupted all of them from speaking further.

"We have a problem that the entire galaxy is facing," Thor told Bastet in an even voice, "our first task has to be to defeat the Nocturna. They are the immediate threat." With a heavy tension still in the air, Bastet nodded her head before stepping back from the table in front of her. Thor then said that their first job was to find the planet the Nocturna came from since they needed to know how it was that they survived from the Ancient's most powerful weapon.

"What weapon?" asked Colonel O'Neill.

"It is a weapon capable of breaking down matter into its constituent elements," Thor said as Major Carter looked on in surprise, as did Bastet. Thor continued, "the Ancients built the weapon to destroy the Nocturna. The energy wave it created spread out through the entire galaxy, through every single Stargate, before it dissipated just after the edge of the Milky Way."

"Wow," a surprised Major Carter whispered.

"No Nocturna should have been able to survive," Thor said, "the fact that these Nocturna have returned means we have to discover what it was that protected them, and then adjust the weapon appropriately."

"Oh," Daniel said as he reached into his vest pocket after Bastet asked how they could find the planet the Nocturna originally came from. He took out the piece of paper and handed it to Thor while saying that Joyce drew them the symbols of the Stargate on her world, "maybe you could find a way to use those symbols, and the symbols on our Stargate as an origin point, to find the planet?"

"It would be beneficial to have the person who drew this here with us," Thor said as Colonel O'Neill and General Carter looked at each other. The Colonel recalled what the General and the rest of SG-1 told him after they were beamed aboard following their arrival through the Stargate. They had taken him to one side following their beam up to the ship and explained to him about Joyce and the fact that she and Buffy were the last survivors of a planet called Asherah, and it was there that she first encountered the Nocturna. When Teal'c mentioned Asherah, the General perked up since that was a name that General Carter recognised. The General then told them about Asherah; that she was a Tok'ra spy and an under-lord to Apophis who saved numerous humans from Chulak.

"Fascinating," Teal'c said nodding his head, "the stories Joyce Summers heard have been partially accurate."

"Yeah," Colonel O'Neill said shaking his head and waving his hands before changing the subject from Asherah back to Joyce. He needed to know why Thor believed that having Joyce on the ship would be useful, "Thor, why do you need this person on the ship?"

"I can access her memories, and if she is really from Asherah, and if that is the world where the Nocturna originated," Thor explained, "then the memories of her childhood would provide clues on the planet's location."

"How?" Major Carter asked.

"I am certain that the woman, like many other humans, would occasionally stare up at the night sky," Thor replied simply looking up at Colonel O'Neill. It was then Major Carter whispered "OOOOH" before explaining that Thor's device would extrapolate at least some of the coordinates based on the locations of constellations in the Asheran night sky.

"And then Thor can correlate those coordinates with the symbols on the Earth Stargate," Major Carter explained before turning to Thor's direction, "I'm guessing the ship's computer can plug in any missing gate symbols?"

"Indeed," Thor nodded his head.

"So Thor," the Colonel said, "if we can get the person who drew these symbols here, you find the Gate address?"

"I can," Thor said nodding his head.

"Can you take us back to Earth?" asked the Colonel.

And Thor nodded his head.

 **Location Unknown, Time Unknown.**

As Willow crossed the threshold of Sunnydale High, or at least the facsimile of Sunnydale High, in her white dress. She walked past several students walking around in silence. Some of them were young, and some of them were old; but all of them were watching her even though they were going through motions that didn't mean anything to them.

The redhead walked with purpose, her heeled slippers 'click-clacking' against the tiled floor. She glanced at the students, who in reality were some of the beings who made up the Others – the Ascended beings. She locked eyes with a few of them, mentally telling them that she wasn't there to cause any problems… just to avert one major creation ending possibility. AS she looked away, Willow remembered a time hundreds of years ago when she was one of the Others who approved punishment on a good friend. The female ascended being helped a great evil ascend to the higher planes of existence, and then she begged for their mercy. She begged them to help her fix her own mistake.

And Willow was one of the Others who punished this female. Willow remembered the woman looking right at her that day, begging for the redhead to break ranks with the Others and help fix her mistake. But Willow declined. So did Hera, Melia, Janus, Moros, and the rest of the Ascended. And so, the female was punished by sending her mistake halfway to the lower planes.

He was pure energy, living thought but a lot of his powers and knowledge of Ancient technology was taken away. However, Anubis couldn't use what Ascended powers he had or risk being fully descended to the lower plans. The deal was that Anubis could use any knowledge he would gain as a Goa'uld, even if it concerned Ancient technology.

Walking towards the doubled door, behind which Willow sensed the woman she was looking for was located, Willow stopped and took in a deep breath. She then reached out and pushed open the double doors before walking into the Sunnydale High library. Willow looked around at the perfect facsimile before glancing at the Others sitting down at the table or up at the book stacks who stopped what they were doing and turned back to look at the redhead.

Willow ignored their gazes and then turned her head to the light brown-haired woman whose back was to her. The redhead saw the woman's shoulders tense before she pulled her head up and turned around. Willow felt a tinge of anger coming from the woman, and she could not blame her at all.

"Athena." She curtly said.

"Oma," Willow said nodding her head, "we need to talk."

"No," Oma looked away from Willow before turning around again towards the counter, "we have nothing to talk about."

"Anubis is moving," Willow said as, unknown to her, Oma closed her eyes... her face twisted in sadness before she turned back to Willow, "I know this, you know this, everyone here knows this. The Nocturna are moving as well. Two powerful forces are moving against the galaxy, and then the universe itself."

Willow and Oma stared at each other while the Others looked on, waiting for someone to make the first move.

Willow closed her eyes and shook her head before opening her green orbs once again, "I made mistakes when I was Ascended, Oma. And so did you. And one of my greatest regrets has been to support punishing you. I am sorry about that. But that mistake has forced Anubis to hasten growing the genetically engineered clones he intends to Ascend. All so that they could fight a war against us. He will use that distraction to use his powers to find and activate the super-weapon and… and he is close. The attack on his worlds has depleted his forces, so he's been forced to retreat. But once he knows how to use the weapon, he will activate it. He has no physical form so… well, he can't die."

"I know," Oma said.

"He's in a cloaked ship that's using Alterran technology to hide from the Asgard," Willow said as she and Oma stared at each other, "he's over Dakara. He knows that the humans will head for that world, that they will want to destroy the Nocturna using the weapon. Once the humans find it, they will use it to destroy the Nocturna. They will believe they're safe and sound, but they are not aware of Anubis' evil. Once the clones have ascended, and once those clones go to war with us? Oma, Anubis will use his powers to take the weapon for himself. And he will kill everyone."

"I can't stop him," Oma said as the doors opened behind Willow. She looked over her left shoulder upon seeing the worried look on Oma's face, who then turned around in sorrow and embarrassment at her own mistake.

"Ah, Athena," a gruff male voice said. A voice that brought shivers up Willow's spine. However, she still turned around and came face to face with a large balding man in a suit, "how nice to see you again."

"Anubis," Willow gritted her teeth as she clenched her hands into fists, "leave us."

"Let us speak of what will happen," Anubis sneered.

 **Sunnydale General Hospital.**

Joyce was holding onto Dawn sitting next to her while they, and the others Scoobies, were still in the waiting room. It had been nearly thirty minutes since the doctor gave them an update on Buffy's condition, telling them that she was slowly regaining consciousness and would be taken to her room in another thirty minutes.

When Joyce asked if he was sure that Buffy was going to be alright, the doctor smiled and nodded his head before saying, "we heard her call for someone. Is there anyone called 'Will' who she knows?"

"Will?" asked Joyce while Tara and Xander looked at each other and then at the doctor. The only one they knew Buffy would refer to as Will was Willow. Joyce pulled Dawn closer while Giles smiled and took off his glasses while chuckling and shaking his head.

"Willow was 'Will'," he said as he tried to pull back tears at remembering the young redhead.

"She was killed earlier today," Tara whispered while Anya held on to Xander.

"I am sorry to hear that," the doctor said, "I have to get back, but I can tell you that Miss Summers smiled after saying her name." The doctor then nodded his head before taking a few steps back. He told the group that he would let them know once Buffy was ready to be moved to her room, and then rushed off.

As he left, Joyce released a sigh of relief that her older daughter, in reality, her niece, was going to recover. All she had to worry now was how to break that news to Buffy and Dawn. She wondered if, while Buffy was asleep, she should draw a picture of Caresa… Buffy's real mother… so that the blonde Slayer would be able to see her mother for the first time. Joyce wondered if that would be a good idea, and was debating the issue in her mind as she looked at Giles. She could see he was still stunned by the revelations earlier, 'he wants to talk after Buffy's wheeled into her room. Yeah, that would be best, and… huh?'

Joyce was the first to see Daniel, in a green coloured uniform, running towards them after making a turn into the hallway. Noticing the stunned look on Joyce's face, Giles turned to see Daniel as well running towards them. As did Xander and the others.

"Mrs. Summers," Daniel said as he placed his hand on the door frame at the entrance to the waiting room, "we… we need to talk to you. I… I mean my Commanding Officer wants to talk to you."

"Dr. Jackson," Giles said, "Joyce has already co-operated with you and your friends. You did say that you would leave us be and…"

"Please, Mrs. Summers," Daniel said as he shifted his eyes to Joyce from Giles, "this is urgent. I know we said that we would keep in touch about what you saw tonight, and usually, that wouldn't have been until later. But from what you told me, you were able to see the creature much more closely than anyone else. And…."

"Actually, I was closer to it, and…." Xander said before he was interrupted.

"How can I help, Dr. Jackson?" Joyce asked.

Daniel remembered what Colonel O'Neill said once Thor's ship entered orbit, that since Giles was also told about alien life, then he could accompany Joyce if she insisted. The fact was that they could not waste any more time. They need to find the Nocturna's home planet. So, facing Joyce and the others, Daniel agreed to have both Giles and Joyce come down to meet his Commanding officer, "his name is Colonel Jack O'Neill."

"Can I come, and…."

"I'm sorry," Daniel shook his head at Dawn, "but they won't be gone for more than five minutes… ten minutes maximum." Daniel then looked up at Giles, his face expressing his apologies for bothering them at this sensitive time again, while Joyce was asking Tara to watch over Dawn. She then sighed. She knew the others would be suspicious as to why she was being asked aside once again, so she told the others that she had seen something similar in Los Angeles years ago.

"So the military's been doing experiments on what… animals? Weaponizing animals?" Xander asked as Daniel chuckled and said it wasn't the branch he was assigned to, "and that is…..?" Xander was now curious as to which branch of the military Daniel belonged. But before he could ask, Joyce got up after telling Dawn that she would be back soon.

And then, the three of them walked away while the other Scoobies looked on. For Tara though, she knew that Joyce was telling the truth about seeing that creature before, but she knew it wasn't in LA. Tara knew that Joyce lied about the second part, and she also knew there wasn't any ill intent. As Giles, Joyce, and Daniel turned into another hallway, Tara wondered what was going on. Tara then looked at the worried Dawn, and placed her arm around the young girl's shoulder, "everything's going to be alright, Dawn. Everything is going to be alright."

TBC.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sunnydale General Hospital.**

The last thing that Giles and Joyce remembered before the screeching sound and the flash of white light, was turning the corner into another hallway before Daniel turned around and reached into his pocket. The two of them saw him take out a smooth grey stone from his left trouser pocket.

"We're not exactly heading down to the lobby," he whispered.

"Excuse me?" Giles asked as he narrowed his eyes looking at the younger man and then at the grey stone in his hand, and then back up at Daniel once again. Giles was certain that Daniel said he was taking himself and Joyce to meet Colonel O'Neill down in the lobby. And now, he was starting to wonder where they were going to go. Daniel had told them a secret- that there were aliens that existed outside Earth, that there were other planets of human life. And that got Giles thinking, - 'would he be taking us in for questioning?' Giles glanced at Joyce who, to his surprise, didn't seem to be that uneasy.

Of course, she wasn't really aware first hand of what the military was capable of- and the situation with Adam entered his mind. Giles wondered if all of this was just a distraction so that the military could take in Joyce and him and, while Buffy was unconscious and separated from the other Scoobies, take the blonde Slayer from under their noses.

Giles had half a mind to reach out and grab onto Joyce's hand, and then her them away from the situation. However, before he could go through with his plan, Daniel spoke up.

"We are going to meet Jack," Daniel whispered reassuringly, "he's an ally of ours who is… well, it's better if you see it to believe it."

"Ally?" asked Joyce, "as in other people from other worlds?"

"Well, they're from another galaxy," Daniel explained in a hushed tone while Giles listened, his mind taking in the new information as his suspicions stayed the same. "I know you gave me the drawing of the symbols on the Stargate on your Homeworld. But this ally of ours? He has technology that can access your mind and… well, he needs to see the stars in your memories. You have looked up at the stars, right?"

"Many times," Joyce nodded her head, "but…"

"They can get some of the coordinates in space from those stars, and then we can extrapolate the rest to find Asherah's location."

"So where are we going?" Giles asked, "because if we'll be gone longer than ten minutes, we have to…"

"Believe me when I say that we'll be back in a flash," Daniel said as he reached out a hand towards Joyce, "Mrs Summers, we really need your help with this. From what we've been able to guess, the Nocturna has already spread throughout the galaxy and… and we just need your help."

"I've seen these things kill my entire village, Dr. Jackson," Joyce said as she looked at Daniel, and then turned her head to look at Giles, "Rupert, I can't stand by and let these things spread." Joyce reached for Giles' hand, and then turned to Daniel, "what do we do?"

"Just stay calm," Daniel answered as he pressed the grey stone. Joyce, Giles, and Daniel heard a buzzing sound from above before they were washed with white light. Once the light faded away, both Giles and Joyce were still holding hands as they stared at the view behind Daniel. The archaeologist stepped aside before turning around as the three of them stared out the viewport to see Earth rotating slowly beneath their feet, and a field of stars surrounding the planet.

 **Asgard vessel, Belisknir; orbit over Earth.**

"Oh my Lord," Giles whispered as he and Joyce, whose jaw was hanging, placed their free hands on the glass and stared at the planet.

"Welcome to the Belisknir," Daniel said before both Joyce and Giles stared at Daniel. This was the third stunning surprise for Giles, and a huge surprise for Joyce who not only learned that there were other planets of humans, and aliens - now she was on a ship.

A spaceship.

"This… this spaceship is…" Joyce stuttered as she stared out at the clouds that were hovering over the Americas.

"Is this an Earth ship, or.."

Before Daniel could answer Giles', a door to the port side of the room slid open with a hiss. Joyce and Giles' eyes reached their foreheads after they turned their heads, which was when they laid eyes on the grey, thin, alien walking next to an older man in full tactical gear.

"Greetings," the alien said stopping next to Daniel.

"Hi," Joyce squeaked waving her hand.

"I… um…. Hello," Giles whispered staring at the alien. He didn't know how to react. This was something he had never expected… an alien from another world, 'no, another galaxy. An alien that looks like the Roswell aliens. My word, we… we had nothing like this in any of the Watcher's diaries. Is it possible that no one, not a single watcher… not one ever encountered a being like this? We've encountered demons of all shapes and sizes over the thousands of years, but never encountered alien life?' Then another thought came to Giles' mind, ' could some of those demons have in fact been other alien creatures? What about the creature that we killed while it was feeding on one of the mentally ill at Sunnydale General? The creature from the meteor.. could it have been considered an alien? Or a demon?'

Before Giles could continue his thoughts, Daniel introduced the grey alien as Thor, and then he introduced Colonel O'Neill.

'Thor?' Giles thought while staring at the grey alien who tilted his head.

"Thor?" he spoke out loud while Joyce managed a nervous smile at the grey alien before noticing the dark expression on Colonel O'Neill's face before he turned to Daniel and whispered something into his ear. While Thor was telling Giles that the Asgard visited Earth many times in its history, Joyce was glancing at the look of surprise on Daniel's face as the Colonel whispered in his ears. The older man then moved away, and Daniel turned to the Colonel with a look of horror. A look she had seen before.

On Caresa's face before she died. On the faces of those who died in her village.

"Dr. Jackson?" Joyce asked as both Colonel O'Neill and Daniel turned to her, "something happened? The Nocturna? They… they did something? Didn't they?" Giles and Thor stopped talking, the older man turning to Colonel O'Neill.

"Yea," the Colonel said nodding his head, "our off-world base, the Alpha site, was attacked by the Nocturna. Those things are dead now, and… well… we lost over a hundred lives."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Giles said as Colonel O'Neill nodded his head.

"And.. and there's another world called Argos," Daniel said as he was starting to come to terms with what the Colonel had just told him, "we had an SG team there to administer medicine to some of the children who were in the main temple with a few adults and… and the Nocturna made it through."

"Oh God," Joyce said shaking her head as she imagined what the dark scaled monsters did to the people in the temple.

"We lost contact with the team based in the temple," the Colonel said, "the gate was dialled after a team was sent to the Alpha site. We fired heavy weapons through the open wormhole, and we just sent three Special Forces teams through to clean up any surviving Nocturna."

"They know how many people died on Argos?"

"Only the ones in the temple," Colonel O'Neill said.

"Kynthia?"

"I don't know," the Colonel said before turning back to Joyce, "thanks for your help. I hate to be really brusk about this, but we really need to know the location of your home world."

"What do I have to do?" Joyce asked as her hand tightened around Giles'. Giles glanced at Joyce, and then at the Colonel and Daniel who were off to one side. The older man placed a hand on the shoulder of the younger one who nodded his head. Giles wondered what they were talking about before turning back to Thor, he still had so many questions that needed answering. He also wondered how it was that they would be getting information from Joyce.

And as if reading his mind, Thor walked over to a console and then grabbed a device before walked out from behind it. He was carrying an oval shaped crystal that was about the size of a quarter dollar. Thor walked over to Joyce and handed her the object before asking the woman to place it on her left temple.

"We are ready," Thor said. At that, Colonel O'Neill and Daniel stopped whispering among themselves before turning to Joyce and Giles while Thor walked towards the console where he retrieved the memory device. Thor placed his hand in the console and looked up at Joyce, "just stay calm, and open your mind. The device had been programmed to search your conscious and unconscious memories for star fields. Once found, the relevant information which will be relayed…" Thor turned an oval control stone clockwise before a holographic simulation of a younger Joyce, or rather Gina, appeared overhead.

"My Word," Giles whispered while a speechless Joyce placed her left hand over her mouth as tears welled in her eyes when she saw herself and Caresa as children running down a trail from what she used to call the 'Great Ring'. The hologram switched to another moment when Gina was sitting next to Caresa, the both of them plucking the grass off the ground in front of their home.

"I name that star Miran, in honour of mother," Caresa yelled as she pointed at a star.

Gina grinned at her sister before pointing at the sky once again. She was moving her finger from one star to another while keeping one eye closed. She only stopped once there was what looked like a star that just appeared after a thick puff of cloud moved away. "Ah," Gina said as a tear slid down Joyce's cheek, "I name that star Corin, in honour of father." The both of them then laughed at each other before the scene changed to a party.

"This was when I was ten," Joyce whispered as Gina stood to one side of a clearing with music and lights in the back ground, and looked up at the stars. All the while, while the memory device was searching out patterns from the night sky in Joyce's memory, Joyce was holding Giles hand tight as the both of them watched a very thin and brown haired man approaching Gina.

"You are missing the festivities, Gina," the man said. Gina spun around towards him with a grin on her face, "come on, my daughter, it is time to cut the cake."

"Do you believe Asherah will return to us, father," Gina asked as she held Corin's hand before they walked towards the party being held meters away. "Will she return from the stars?"

Corin laughed before crouching down and picking up his daughter into his arms. Gina laughed as Joyce looked away. She imagined her father being killed by the Nocturna that invaded the village where he had gone to get fish for Artemis' birth celebration twenty-one years ago. All the while the scene changed to another night, and then another night, and then another night.

"We have five symbols," Thor said as Joyce's eyes widened when a new scene emerged. She remembered this particular night. Thor said that the device would search her memories for star fields, and it did. Joyce and the others watched as the village was destroyed. They watched with hearts pounding in their chests as Gina looked up into the star lit night sky before looking back down to the Nocturna killing and eating the villagers.

"I looked up to beg Asherah for help," Joyce whispered.

"I am sorry, Joyce," Giles whispered as he turned his head away and looked at Joyce who closed her eyes. Only to open them again when they heard the sound of a child crying. Joyce looked up at the hologram, as did Giles, and saw the wailing baby in Gina's arms while she was running. They heard Gina pant while telling the baby that they were going to be alright.

"Caresa!" yelled Gina as Joyce continued to stare at the hologram. She knew what was about to happen. The scene showed Gina turning, only to scream out in horror as Caresa was cut down ruthlessly. It was then that the starfield in the night sky could be seen, and another symbol was highlighted and placed into the ship's computer.

"We have the sixth symbol," Thor whispered. He then deactivated the device on the side of Joyce's head, and the screams from Gina.. and Artemis… vanished. The room was now silent as Joyce closed her eyes while the others could only stand rooted to the spot.

It was a minute later that Joyce looked up at Thor, and then at Colonel O'Neill and Daniel before asking, "Promise me you will stop them."

"That's our mission," Colonel O'Neill said nodding his head.

"I.. I…" Joyce stuttered as she reached up with her trembling hand and took off the device on her temple. She stared at it in her hands, and then took a step forward while Thor walked around from behind a console and towards her. Joyce handed the device to Thor who said that their next stop would be Asherah.

"We will run a life-sign scan of the surface to search for any human life," Thor said, "I believe that Stargate Command will keep you apprised of the results."

"We will," Colonel O'Neill said while Daniel nodded his head, "if it's clear off the Nocturna, I'll send a report to my Commanding Officer that you be allowed to travel through the Gate. Daniel said that there were people… people you wanted to bury."

"Yes," Joyce whispered nodding her head as she thought about Caresa.

"Let us take care of the Nocturna," Colonel O'Neill said, "and then we will contact you. In the meantime, before we leave orbit, I'll ask my Commanding Officer to reach out to you. He'll give you two a number to call night or day in case you or your daughter need help."

Joyce and Giles nodded their heads before Colonel O'Neill said that it was time for the both of them to be beamed back to the hospital, "not trying to kick you to the curb, but…."

"The Nocturna is the greater danger," Giles nodded his head, "we understand."

"I'm ready, and…."

"Oh… I'm sorry but…" Giles glanced at Joyce, interrupting her, and then at Thor, "I know this has nothing to do with the Nocturna, but are you able to.. I don't know… umm…."

"Rupert," Joyce shook her head at the man. She knew what he was going to ask Thor and the others, and she didn't know if she felt comfortable about it.

"They could help," Giles said. He and Joyce stared at each other for a few seconds before Joyce nodded her head. Joyce then turned to Thor and said that she was diagnosed with a tumour in her brain, but ever since the attack by the Nocturna.. she did not have any headaches and she had been able to think clearly.

"One moment," Thor said as he walked behind a different console. Daniel and COloenl O'Neill stared at the grey alien who was moving one stone to another position and then turning another stone. A holographic representation of Joyce appeared in front of Giles and Joyce. The image then changed to show Joyce's blood vessels and zoomed in on the head. Thor then walked out from behind the console and said, "there is no tumour." Relief flooded Joyce as Giles gently squeezed the hand he was holding, "perhaps your physician was mistaken."

"That has to it," Joyce whispered, "that has to be it."

"Now, we're ready to go," Giles said nodding his head at the Colonel.

"We'll be in touch," Daniel said as Thor walked back to a console so that Joyce and Giles could be beamed back to the hospital.

 **Sunnydale General Hospital, ten minutes later.**

A bright flash of white light faded away to reveal Giles and Joyce standing by themselves in an empty hallway. Seeing that they were back in the hospital, Giles, whose mind was still screaming the fact that they were on a space ship and encountered a true to life alien, Thor no less, turned his head to glance at Joyce. She wiped her eyes before looking up at Giles with a smile on her face, "I saw her again. I saw Caresa again and… and now…"

"I'll be there when you tell Buffy if you want me to be there.. that is," Giles whispered as Joyce leaned against the wall and he turned his body to face her. He could see that Joyce was also relieved that there was no more tumour in her brain, 'and now the question is why?' Giles stepped closer and whispered an apology. Joyce looked back up at him with confusion etched on her face, "I still didn't believe you fully, not until now. I realize I should have, but…"

"I understand," Joyce nodded her head. Giles pursed his lips and nodded his head. He was now thinking to himself about Joyce's reaction when she's told that Dawn wasn't really her child; that Dawn was a magical construct containing something called the Key. While Joyce looked away with a smile as she remembered seeing her family again, Giles wondered how she'd take the news given that Buffy was really her niece.

'And she raised her as her daughter,' Giles thought to himself as Joyce turned her head back towards him, "Buffy is your daughter. For all the semantics, she's your daughter, Joyce."

"I have two groups of memories for her," Joyce whispered, "I know I gave birth to her, I still remember how happy I was the first time I held her in my arms. And… and I remember the terror when I ran through the field carrying her while the Nocturna was chasing us. I still smell the blood and.. and death. I still remember how horrified I was when that thing killed Caresa. I remember feeling the stone floor when that woman brought me to Earth."

"The Order of Dagon," Giles nodded his head. At the mention of the Order, Joyce wondered how it was that he knew that name. She remembered how familiar he seemed with that name, based on his expression back at the Summer house before the Nocturna attacked.

"Rupert, back at the house, you looked like you heard of this Order of Damon… these monks…" Joyce asked shaking her head, "do you know about them?"

'They created Dawn,' Giles thought as he said, "I've heard about them. They… from... from what I've been told by the Council, and…."

"You said you went to the Council and they didn't know anything about Glory or the Key," Joyce said.

"Joyce," Giles said shaking his head as he placed hands gently on her shoulders, "they didn't. but recently, Buffy encountered a man from the Order of Dagon. He… he…"

"Rupert?" Joyce asked shaking her head, visibly confused, "when did Buffy…?"

"He died, Joyce," Giles whispered, "but… but… Joyce, you have to understand that both Buffy and Dawn are your daughters, and…"

"Rupert?" Joyce said with a worried tone.

"This.. this monk told Buffy that they… they sent… sent the Key to the Slayer in the form of a human. In the form of a sister" Joyce's eyes widened when she realized the depth of what Giles was saying. The latter was thinking to himself, 'forgive me, Joyce' while continued to talk, "Dawn is completely human, Joyce. The monks they… they used a powerful spell to shift reality. They changed everyone's memories so that Dawn was always your daughter."

"I remember giving birth to her," Joyce whispered with tears welling in her eyes. "I… I… I don't have children of my own? I…."

"No," Giles whispered shaking his head vigorously while gently squeezing her shoulders, "don't say that. Dawn is every bit your daughter as Buffy is. Dawn is human, Joyce. She was sent to Buffy and you for protection. Your memory was changed so that you remember her. So that you know her."

"I held her in my arms," Joyce whispered as she looked at her hands through tear filled eyes.

"Does that feel real?" Giles asked as he gently tightened his grip on her shoulders, "your memories of Dawn?".

"Yes," Joyce whispered as a tear fell down her cheeks.

"Then Dawn is real. Buffy and Dawn are your children," Giles said, "Dawn doesn't know the truth, and neither do the others. Only Buffy and I, and now you."

"I… I can't tell… tell Dawn.." Joyce nodded her head while wiping her eyes. "But Buffy deserves to know the truth." Joyce then took a deep breath, "she deserves to know that Caresa gave her life so that she could live. And she deserves to know that Caresa and Linton loved her."

"And she'll know you love her too," Giles added.

As the Belisknir came about and opened a hyperspace window, Joyce and Giles began walking towards the waiting room side by side. They made a few turns through hallways before reaching the waiting room where Dawn was sitting leaning against Tara's arm. But upon seeing Joyce at the end of the hallway, Dawn sat up and waved at Joyce who then strode faster towards the girl. Entering the Waiting room, Joyce hugged Dawn as the former stood up with a tired look on her face.

"I love you, Dawn," Joyce whispered as she held on tight to her youngest daughter. "I love you."

TBC.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Higher Planes of Existance.**

"You won't be able to destroy them," Willow raised her voce as she glared at Anubis. They were still in the higher planes, represented by the Sunnydale High library as a very small part of that higher existence. Willow's raised voice forced all the Others in the small library to look up from what they were doing. Those who were reading looked up from their books towards the redhead while those searching for books in the stacks stopped their searches and walked to the end of the stacks which looked down towards the middle of the library.

"Athena," Oma whispered placing a hand of the redhead's shoulder as energy gathered around her fists and her eyes glowed a fiery white. Willow was prepared to dissipate Anubis' energy form, but she knew deep down that the others would protect him by pulling her away. By punishing her.

So Willow closed her eyes and calmed down slowly as the energy around her fists dissipated and her green eyes were visible once again.

"He is my punishment," Oma whispered as Willow turned to look at her, "a punishment that I have to watch destroy the galaxy. It was the punishment you, Hera, and the others put on me. There's nothing that can be done."

"And none of you can do anything, Athena," Anubis tilted his head while carrying a newspaper titled _'The Ascended Times',_ with the headline being _'Belisknir Finds Asherah And Discovers What Saved The Nocturna'_. Anubis noticed Willow's eyes shifting to the headline, and so he smiled and unfurled the paper before looking down at the article. He then whispered, "how disappointing is that? Looks like Bestat and the Tau'ri are working together after all and… oh?" Anubis raised his eyebrows before looking up at Willow and Oma, "and what do you know; the Nocturna have spread to six hundred other worlds. All using the knowledge they gained from eating the brains of the System Lords and the Jaffa, oh, the original Nocturna that woke up on Asherah also had the memories of the Alterra they killed millions of years ago. It's nice to know they remember these small details, you know, such as Gate addresses. This is a really good read. But, I suppose some of the Jaffa and the underlords would survive for a little while anyway before I make myself known."

"The Nocturna will be destroyed," Willow said narrowing her eyes at the suited Anubis as he walked past her and then made a right turn before walking towards the counter. Willow and Oma, stepping back in disgust from the larger man when he reached out for the latter, leaned his back against the counter while pulling back his hand. He then placed the folded newspaper on the top of the counter while sighing.

"I know no one will do anything to stop me," Anubis said as he smirked at Willow, "not even that little blonde girl you're so fond of. Well, it's not that she won't, it's that she can't stop me."

"This isn't just about Buffy," Willow said.

"Because she will be reduced into her constituent elements once I am done, as will the rest of humanity," Anubis said with a smile and a clap before he pushed himself off the counter, "now, I have to go finish my clones. Once they've ascended and started the war here, only then will I begin the destruction of the galaxy. And… oh…." Anubis turned and pointed at the folded newspaper. "Look at what's about to happen, Athena." He then turned to Oma while Willow hurried over to the counter and picked up the paper, "they're about to give me the very weapon I need." He then turned to Oma and gave her a small bow, "my dear Oma, we should sit down and talk before I release my cloned, and they ascend. After all, all of this is because of you."

Anubis then turned back around from the disgusted Oma and walked out the library doors with a boisterous laugh. Oma then turned as Willow finished reading the latest headline, and then placed the newspaper on the top of the counter again before looking up and facing her.

"The Belisknir just arrived over Dakara, they're going to set the weapon to penetrate any and all Keralite deposits in the galaxy," Willow said referring to the dark green coloured mineral that the cave on Asherah was made off. The very same cave where the Nocturna that attacked Joyce's village had been hibernating in for millions of years, "and then…"

"And there's nothing we can do," Oma softly said before looking away.

"No," Willow shook her head while Oma hunched her shoulders, "Oma, humanity does not deserve to die out. We forget that we were once them. Hell, I was a physical human until a few hours ago. I lived among them, I had a family, I had friends, I had… I had someone I loved. They do not deserve what Anubis is going to do with the weapon."

"We cannot do anything," Oma whispered looking over her shoulder at Willow. Willow then shook her head before saying, "no." Oma frowned as Willow turned to the others.

"I was wrong then, just as all of you were wrong," Willow said as she stared at the others while pointing at Oma who looked away from them, "we should have returned all of Anubis to the lower planes of existence. What happened then wasn't her fault, she was tricked… tricked just as the rest of us would have been if we were in her position."

"Athena," Oma whispered shaking her head as Willow continued to berate the Others.

"Don't you think that she's suffered enough! The entire galaxy is in danger!" screamed Willow at the Others. All of whom stared at the panting Willow whose face was flushed red in anger, and then they looked away to doing what they were doing before. 'They don't care'. Willow thought before she turned to Oma.

Oma gave Willow a sad smile before she looked away and vanished. Willow then sighed and glanced at the remaining Others who were either reading or searching for books in the library stacks. Willow closed her eyes, and simply thought about the planet called Dakara. Next thing she knew, Willow was standing out in space as she watched the Belisknir fire at the surface with her ion cannons, clearing the area around the control room for the superweapon, which was located at the base of the tallest mountain. The surface was littered with the bodies of dead Jaffa and their slaves after the Nocturna, along with several females, arrived an hour ago. Willow saw that it was night on the surface, and she knew that the crew of the Belisknir couldn't risk waiting until morning since waiting meant more humans on other worlds would die.

Willow then looked to her left, on the far side of the planet, and heard laughter in her mind. She could sense him, Anubis, in his cloaked ship. 'I though the little snake said he was going back to his lab to finish his clones' Willow thought as she stared at the invisible ship.

Willow could sense him waiting for SG-1 to find the control room, and then destroy the threat of the Nocturna throughout the galaxy with the activation of the weapon. Ever since she Ascended, Willow sensed ripples throughout the galaxy as life was being snuffed out. Even when she was talking to Buffy in the latter's dream, Willow felt thousands die in a Museum far away from Earth…. She sensed the Nocturna having just escaped into the surrounding city after the sun had gone down over the horizon. She sensed thousands more dying in one of twelve worlds on the far side of the galaxy.

She could hear people begging for help; praying for help. But Willow knew she was helpless as she clenched her fists tight. Willow sighed, closed her eyes, and then found herself at the entranced to the control room; she saw Colonel Carter, Daniel, and Thor trying to figure out the code that would unlock the doors to the control room. She then turned around to see open metallic cases- empty cases with the logo of the SGC etched onto the inside of the cover. Willow looked up upon hearing gun shots and saw Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill, each holding a heavy machine gun, while they fired round after round into the horde of Nocturna that were running and leaping up the stairs.

Willow glanced at the System Lord Bastet and her Jaffa who were firing Earth made projectile weapons as well.

"See, I told you they work!" Colonel O'Neill screamed at Bastet over the rattling sounds from their weapons firing down at the screaming Nocturna, "damn snake head!"

Willow stifled a chuckle as she looked at the look of consternation on Bastet's face as she continued to fire the weapon she and her Jaffa were wielding, as were dozens of other Jaffa firing down the sides of the stairs at the base of the mountain. They were in a semi-circle protecting Major Carter, Daniel, and Thor as they tried to guess the code.

Willow glanced through the Colonel's mind and saw that just before leaving Earth Orbit, he had Thor beam up cases of weapons from the SGC. It was then that Willow looked to her right and saw the other unopened cases of weapons.

"Daniel!" Colonel O'Neill yelled over the din of weapons fire as he continued firing, "please tell me you have something!"

"I…." Willow could see Daniel staring at the two circulars lock on the door in front of him, Major Carter, and Thor. Willow glanced at him, and saw his mind working to figure out a translation.

"Carter!" the Colonel yelled, "we need you here!"

The Major nodded her head and the patted Daniel's shoulder, "you can do it, Daniel," she said before opening a case and then taking out a grenade launcher before pulling the case to the edge of the landing close to the stairs.

"Fire in the hole!" she yelled as she fired into the mass of Nocturna heading towards them while the Asgard ships and two Ha'tak class vessels continued firing at the flat lands where the Stargate was located; killing as many Nocturna as possible.

To Willow, she thought she was looking at a vast hellscape of death and explosions. She saw the bullets from the weapons shredding the Nocturna to pieces while the explosive force from the grenades tore them apart. Willow then turned back to Daniel and Thor, who said that the language on the door was written in one of the oldest Ancient dialects. Willow saw Thor step forward and then place his hand on the left circle of symbols, and then turn it clockwise. Willow knew that there were hundreds of other Stargates on other worlds active, with Nocturna dashing through to attack the living beings nearby.

She could sense the deaths of thousands upon thousands as she mentally begged Daniel and Thor to hurry.

Willow knew that the Stargates would have to be shut down, and then the machine in the inner chamber would be used to access every Gate in the network. And once that was done, the refined energy wave could then be sent through the entire Gate network by activating all the Stargates in the galaxy.

And then, Willow knew, the Galaxy would have to face a new danger in the form of Anubis. 'Unless Oma interferes.'

It would be a minute later that Willow watched Daniel and Thor unlock the code, and then open the door to the inner chamber.

'Die, you monsters!' Willow thought as she watched Daniel and Thor get to work on the pedestal device that armed the weapon at the top of the mountain.

 **Sunnydale General Hospital, three minutes later.**

"Mrs Summers?" the surgeon who had been working on Buffy said as he walked into the waiting room. His face mask was hanging beneath his chin, the straps loosely hanging around the back of his neck, while he walked into the waiting room as Joyce and the others got up to their feet.

Joyce, her arms around Dawn, as she held the young girl close to her nodded her head, her heart racing while searching for signs that there was some bad news. Joyce heard stories about how those who were on the way to recovery would suddenly take a turn for the worse and die. Immediately, Joyce thought about Buffy and how the latter would never know about who her real mother was, that she wouldn't know about the world they came from, she wouldn't know about her grandfather and grandmother. Buffy would never know.

And then, a second later, Joyce breathed a sigh of relief when the doctor said that Buffy was being moved to her room. He said that Buffy was going to make a full recovery, and that she needed to stay in the hospital for observation, "the earliest she could go home is in two days. She was badly injured, and I would like to make sure that her wounds aren't infected by…"

"An animal attack," Giles said, "it should be on the news."

The doctor nodded his head before asking the group to follow him out of the waiting room and to Buffy's room. Tara was the last person to leave after Xander and Anya when she suddenly stopped at the entrance to the waiting room and then turned around to face the night time sky and lights on the other side of the window that illuminated the parking lot. As the footsteps of the group walked down the hallway, Tara walked towards the window as she felt a burst of energy go right through her- it brushed against her skin- with eyes wide open in surprise. It wasn't magic, that much she thought to herself. But the burst felt as if it caused ripples in the ocean of magical energy that surrounded her, 'it doesn't feel dangerous, or evil. Or… well, it just feels different. There's nothing I felt- no good or evil behind that burst.'

In truth, the energy wave was caused by the activation of the Dakara weapon platform. SG-1 and Bastet's forces were nearly overwhelmed, at least until Daniel and Thor cracked the code, and then entered the chamber where there was a waist high pedestal located in front of a screen. With Thor being the one fluent with Ancient language, at least much more than Daniel, he moved his command chair to a higher height before looking down at the symbols. He then pointed out the ones that Daniel needed to press, which the archaeologist did… following Thor's instructions. Columns on the platform moved up, and Thor told Daniel which ones to press as the screen came to life with symbols floating from left to right on its surface.

Just as the Nocturna were about to breach the line firing deadly shards of bullets through their bodies, the Stargate activated. In fact, all the Stargates in the Galaxy activated all at once. Including the one in the SGC on Earth. And then an invisible wave fired from the weapon at the top of the mountain where the weapon was concealed for millions of years. The wave travelled through the Stargate network, through to every planet in the galaxy turning the Nocturna into dust as it washed over them. After days of planets being soaked in blood, after the deaths of millions of people as the Nocturna spread like a plague of locusts, the Nocturna- the ancient enemy of the Alliance of Four Great Races- was finally defeated.

The greatest threat to the Galaxy, that the Tau'ri and the Goa'uld were aware of, was over.

Back on Earth, the body of the Nocturna taken by the Special Forces team disintegrated before their eyes, and they were left to wonder if the demon they captured simply turned to dust like a vampire after a delayed reaction- at least that was the best question they could come up with at the time. In the meantime, Tara was confused over what just happened. Despite the questions swimming in her mind, Tara turned around with a look of confusion on her face. 'What just happened?' Tara thought to herself as she walked out of the waiting room, 'did the others feel that burst of energy too?' Tara continued walking down the hallway before making a turn into another hallway where she had seen Xander and Anya enter. Tara hurried her steps before reaching Xander and Anya, when she walked at a normal pace as the group followed the doctor to Buffy's room.

"Hey," Xander said looking at Tara, and then behind her, and finally his eyes landing back on her once again, "where'd you go?"

"I…." Tara said as she wondered to herself if she should tell him about the energy wave she felt. "I just felt a little overwhelmed," Tara said instead as Xander stared at her in surprise, 'we don't need another mystery now. Not… not now…'. Tara smiled at Xander, "I'm glad that Buffy's going to make a full recovery, and…" Tara then looked away while her hands where clasped together, "and she's alive."

Xander put her arms around Tara's shoulder and they continued their walk through the hallway. The both of them had the same thought go through their minds- Buffy was alive, and they were relieved about that. But they still lost someone who was a major part of their lives. They still lost Willow.

"Buffy!" yelled Dawna as she rushed to the blonde slayer who was seated down on the hospital bed- the bed angled up to support her back. There were wires from her chest leading to a machine that monitored her heart rate and pulse, and blood oxygen; there was another tube that was filled with red liquid leading to a small blood bag hanging from a pole. Buffy, smiled at Dawn as the both of them hugged while Joyce covered her mouth with both hands.

Joyce needed to see Buffy alive. And here she was- sitting up smiling, and alive, and crying as she reached out her hand towards Joyce. Joyce rushed forward and grabbed the Slayer's hand before going in for a hug. Joyce cried as she hugged Buffy and Dawn together- the three of them closed their eyes as tears streaked down their cheeks while Xander held onto Anaya, and both Giles and Tara stood side by side. It was a few seconds later that Joyce and Dawn parted, the former placing her hand on Buffy's cheek while Dawn asked if her sister was feeling better.

"Just weak," Buffy replied Dawn, "I…" Buffy looked up at Tara and the others through tear stained eyes, but there was one person who was missing, "where's Riley?"

"Do you remember what happened to Spike?" asked Anya.

"He.. he died," Buffy whispered nodding her head, "I was there when… when that thing attacked him after it… it killed Willow…" Buffy looked up at the pain in Tara's eyes and was about to open her mouth to tell the blonde witch about how she saw Willow in her dream.

However, Dawn interrupted her, "Buffy," she said. "Riley…" Dawn looked away in sadness. Feeling a heavy weight landing in her shoulders. Buffy, concerned, turned to a sad Joyce and asked.

"Mom? Where's Riley?" Buffy asked as the machine monitoring her heart beat started to beep faster, "mom?"

"I'm sorry, honey," Joyce whispered as Buffy's face was etched in pain, "he… he…"

"He fought until the end, Buffy," Xander added gently. Buffy closed her eyes and started to cry at the loss of her boyfriend. Joyce reached out for her and hugged her tight while Dawn simply held her hand.

It would be by one in the morning that Buffy fell asleep with both Joyce and Dawn sleeping in their own cots. With visiting hours over some time ago, Giles and the others returned to Giles' place after Sheila and Ira came by to see Buffy. They were holding Willow's funeral in a few days, at least that was according to a tearful Sheila.

"And… and I know she.. she'd want all of you to come," Ira said while Joyce hugged Sheila tightly.

It was few minutes later that Sheila and Ira left, and after that Giles, Xander, Anya, and Tara left together for Giles' apartment so that they could spend the night talking about Willow. Buffy wanted to tell them the dream she had about Willow, but she didn't know how to bring it up. She didn't know what it meant when Willow said that she wasn't an Angel, that she couldn't interfere in the lower planes of existence. Buffy had no idea what anything Willow said meant; well, except for when Willow said that she missed and loved all of them. Buffy remembered Willow assuring her that what happened was not her fault… that the Slayer had nothing to do with her best friend's death.

But Buffy still blamed herself. She blamed herself for not being fast enough as she waved at Tara, the very same Tara who Willow loved. 'I took Willow away from her,' Buffy though. And Buffy wondered if the blonde witch could ever forgive her. It was a question Buffy was afraid to ask.

Once everyone left, Buffy went to sleep exhausted after they had their own conversation about Willow and Riley. They even talked about Spike- with Buffy begrudgingly saying that the Vampire did help them out periodically.

"But he was still evil," Buffy whispered, "even with the chip."

While everyone was still asleep, Joyce rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. She stared up at the ceiling with eyes that were not screaming at her to sleep. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't go to sleep. She looked to her right and saw Dawn asleep in her cot, and then Joyce turned her head to the left and saw Buffy fast asleep. The rhythmic beeping of Buffy's heartbeat still going strong. Joyce put her hands behind her head as she looked back up at the ceiling. The holographic version of the memories that played on Thor's ship was in her mind; she smiled as she imagined Caresa lying next to her as the both of them lay on the shore of a winding river three kilometres away from their village.

They would simply looked up at the clouds in the sky as they talked about their future.

Joyce closed her eyes and remembered holding Caressa's hand tight the day Artemis was born- the day that Buffy was born. She remembered Caresa laughing and crying at the same time when their mother wrapped the wailing Artemis in warm blankets before placing the little bundle in Caressa's arms. Joyce remembered placing her forehead at the side of Caressa's head, all her jealousy in Caresa marrying Linton melting away as she stared at her niece. It was then that Joyce, or rather Gina, knew that her affair with Linton needed to stop for good.

Opening her eyes once again, Joyce sighed as she slowly sat up. She remembered her father going to the next village to get some fish- a tradition for the birth of a newborn. It was also the beginning of the harvest season, an auspicious time for a celebration.

And then came the attack by the Nocturna.

Joyce turned her body and gently placed her feet on the cold floor. She then got off her cot and tiptoed out of the room. Entering the hallway outside, Joyce slowly closed the door to Buffy's room behind her and walked over to the nurses station.

There was something she needed to do.

TBC.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Sorry it so long to upload this chapter. I'm taking a few courses, so my time is divided between those and writing these chapters. Do not worry, I'm still writing but it would take time between writing the chapters and uploading them to the site. In the meantime, enjoy. Cheers.

 **Sunnydale General Hospital, Now.**

Back on Asherah, Gina loved to draw. She would sit in front of the Great Ring and draw the symbols that were etched onto the inner track. Other than drawing the Great Ring, she would draw the grasslands along with the great river that wound through it. She would draw the mountains in the distance from her village and the large clear blue lake that lay beyond them when she visited the latter with her family. The lake had several species of fish that her father would catch and bring back home for days of celebration, and Gina would draw those as well.

In the present day, on Earth, Joyce sat in the waiting room, her legs folded under her with a table pulled in front of the couch she sat on. She had pieces of white paper, most of which were already used, on the surface of the table along with a pencil in her right hand as she feverishly drew an image of her sister. She was drawing the fifth piece that depicted Caresa, this time it was a close-up of her face with long hair trailing down her shoulders and a flower in her left ear. There were other pieces with drawings of her mother, her father, her village… and then Joyce also had two finished drawings of Linton. Having finished drawing the fifth picture of Caresa, Joyce put the pencil down and then flexed and stretched her fingers before a smile came on her face while staring down at the drawings scattered around the surface of the table. She then leaned back on the couch as her mind pulled her back to over twenty years ago.

Back to when she was simply Gina.

Joyce remembered looking on in jealousy as Caresa married the man they both loved. She remembered the mixture of emotions that swelled within her- anger, jealously, confusion, all mixed with love and happiness for her sister. It would be later that night after the wedding, while Gina was still awake lying on her soft bed looking up at her ceiling, that she heard a 'thud' outside her window. Gina knew that everyone was asleep and that both Linton and Caresa had gone to the little one story home that the men of the village helped build for the couple. Before the first thud, the night had been relatively quiet other than the distant sounds of insects chirping softly out in the tall grass.

'There it is again,' Gina thought when she heard another thud outside her window. As Gina got off her bed in her cream coloured nightie, she narrowed her eyes while her heart raced at the thought of who it could be causing the 'thuds'. Her feet hit the warm wooden floor before she crept around the bed to her window. Her hands grasped the wooden sill as she peeked her head out to the moonlit night just as a small grey object hit the wooden sill to the left of her head. Frowning at the near miss, Gina looked down only to find Linton waving at her from the bottom of her window while whispering "sorry".

"Come down," he continued to whisper, waving at Gina, signalling at her to meet him outside.

Gina heard what he said, and there was a part of her that wondered why he wasn't with Caresa. But there was also another part that knew exactly why he was waving for her at the bottom of her window. And Gina gave in to that latter part- the part of her that still wanted Linton. The part that wanted the man she loved even though he married her sister. Gina crept out of her room, slowly crept past the room of her parents, and then down the wooden stairs. She was careful not to make a sound… not even a creek on the wooden floor… as she reached the front door. She gently opened it, all the while her brain was telling her to stop; that even though this was the man she loved, he was already married to her sister.

But her heart won out in the end as she closed the door gently behind her and dashed to find Linton still under her window. The two of them embraced before kissing passionately, and ten they parted after a few seconds. Linton grabbed her left hand and then took off running into the long grass, and then to the long stalks of grain that hid their bodies when they stopped to kiss each other once again.

The two of them kissed passionately while slipping clothes off the other- clothes that were then thrown to the side. The stalks of tall grass and grain hid their naked bodies while Gina lay on the ground covered in sweat with Linton above her- the memory was fresh for Joyce, as if it happened yesterday when she closed her eyes in the waiting room. Back on Asherah, the still air around the couple didn't carry the muffled sounds of moaning from Gina as Linton kissed her while rocking in and out of her. No one heard Gina's screams of pleasure- no one heard a betrayal taking place.

And thus, their affair began in earnest. Even after Caresa had gotten pregnant months after the wedding, Linton and Gina continued their affair. Though with Caresa being pregnant, Gina felt guilty continuing the affair and wanted to stop. However, she and Linton couldn't bring themselves to stop, and so they still continued. All the while, the more Gina's enjoyed the affair with her love… the more the guilt grew at her pregnant sister having her husband cheating on her with her own sister.

After Artemis' birth, Gina was going to stop the affair. She really was, despite that one moment of weakness. Gina couldn't stare into the eyes of a child while having an affair with her father. Gina needed to stop. She needed to rebuild the relationship with her sister… a relationship that in Gina's own mind was already frayed. Gina believed that Caresa suspected Linton was having an affair with someone- and so Gina wanted to reassure her that he wasn't. And the only way to do that was stop the affair.

And then the Nocturna happened. And then everyone Gina loved, other than the baby in her arms, died. That was the day her memories were hidden, and she received new memories and a new reality by the Order of Dagon- a reality as Joyce Summer, mother to Buffy Summers.

Back in the waiting room, hours passed since Joyce went to sleep with the drawings scattered around the table. In the meantime, the sun started to rise out from behind the horizon. The light filtered through the clouds and then through the window behind Joyce. The warm light gently hit the back of Joyce's head as she slept leaning back on the couch, and her head hanging low. She was having dreams of her former life on Asherah- dreams that only returned thanks to the return of her memories and the disappearance of the throbbing pain in her head.

Back in Buffy's room, it was Dawn who was the first to open her eyes. She was laying on her side, only to find that she wasn't in her room back home. As she groaned on the stiff mattress that on top of the cot, Dawn remembered what happened the previous night; Spike died, Willow died, Riley died, and her sister was badly injured but alive.

"Mom," she whispered while rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand and lay on her back facing the ceiling. She then moved her body and lay on the side facing the empty cot net to her, the cot where Joyce was supposed to have been sleeping. Dawn frowned and then lay sideways on her elbow and looked beyond that cot at Buffy. The Slayer was still fast asleep while the machine reading her heartbeat continued to beep softly. Next to the machine was a blood bag that was nearly empty, and then next to it was a blood pressure monitor. Dawn's groggy eyes shifted between the hospital bed and the empty cot. 'Mom? Where are you?'

Dawn took in a deep breath and then slowly sat up on her cot, her feet lying flat on the cold floor. She winced silently at the cool floor before slowly getting up off the cot. Dawn, the cold air in the room brushing against her lower arms, crept over to Buffy. The brunette wanted to make sure that her sister was breathing… yes, she knew that if Buffy stopped breathing, the machines would be going haywire making loud unworldly beeping noises. But Dawn still wanted to make sure… she watched Buffy's chest rise and fall while creeping over to her left side. Dawn grabbed the railing on the left side of the bed and stared at Buffy's face, it was now full of colour instead of being so pale when she saw her last night.

Dawn wrapped her arms around her body and shivered. She looked up at the vents that brought in cold air before looking back at Buffy who was still sleeping while being covered by the blanket. Dawn then glanced over her shoulder and mumbled, "where's mom?" before looking back at Buffy.

"I'll be right back. Buffy," Dawn whispered before she sighed, and then walked over to her shoes lying close to the wall near the door, 'maybe she's getting something to drink?' Dawn silently opened the door and then looked back at her sister. Dawn stared at Buffy's chest, making sure that the blonde Slayer was breathing, before she turned around and walked out into the hallway while closing the door behind her. Dawn walked down the lit hallway as nurses started to make their rounds down the hallway. Once of them entered the room next to Buffy's- she and Dawn nodded their heads before the nurse said that she would be checking in on Buffy in a few minutes.

Dawn nodded her head before saying that she was searching for Joyce, "have you seen her?"

"She's in the waiting room," the nurse whispered, "last I saw, she was asleep."

"Thanks," Dawn whispered before walking off to the waiting room while the nurse walked into the room to check on the patient inside. As Dawn walked through the hallway passing by more orderlies and nurses, Dawn wondered what Joyce was doing in the waiting room when she could have been more comfortable in Buffy's room. 'I mean Buffy's injured and… and she should be there and… oh come on, Dawn,' Dawn thought to herself, 'maybe mom has a good reason.'

Dawn walked down the hallway, and then down another, and then another before reaching the waiting room. There she found Joyce fast asleep with a table close by. Dawn walked inside slowly and towards the table where she looked down at the drawings. She picked on up of a house she didn't recognize, another with a landscape that was showing a night sky- a landscape she didn't recognize given that there were what appeared to be two moons. Dawn narrowed her eyes in confusion a she put down the drawings in her hand when a picture of a younger version of her mother caught her attention- the drawing depicted Joyce's figure's arm around another woman's shoulders as they smiled.

'Who's the other lady?' Dawn thought to herself as she looked t another picture which depicted the younger Joyce and the other woman surrounded by another older man and woman. Dawn had more questions in her head before shaking her head and thinking that Joyce was probably thinking about a story she wanted to write, and that her drawings depicted what the setting and the characters would look like. Dawn then put the drawings in her hand back down onto the table. She walked around the circular table and then slowly sat down next to Joyce before leaning sideways and placing her head on Joyce's shoulder.

"Ummm…" Joyce mumbled upon feeling someone leaning in on her. She was about to whisper Caresa's name thinking that the dreams she was having were real, instead she opened her groggy eyes to remind herself she was in the hospital waiting room. She turned her head towards the figure whose head was on her shoulder, and smiled before whispering, "Dawnie? Is it morning?"

"Uh huh," Dawn whispered looking up at her before she lay her head on Joyce's shoulder once again. She stared at the drawings before mumbling, "I like the pictures on the table."

Joyce shifted her eyes towards the table and saw the scattered pieces of paper. She had forgotten all about them- truth was that Joyce simply wanted to close her eyes for a few seconds so that she could get some energy back. She wanted to head back to the room after a few seconds of sleep, taking her drawings with her until she found the opportunity to let Buffy and Dawn the truth. She never expected to sleep so long. She never expected Dawn to wake up early and come to her while the drawings were on the table.

"Are you writing a book or something?" Dawn asked as she reached out with a hand, and then grasped and pulled the drawing with the two moons. "Are you writing a science fiction book or… I mean are you writing about…" Dawn then sat up and pulled the drawing of Joyce as a younger woman, "I mean are you writing a story with someone looking like you as a character in the story?"

"Something like that," Joyce replied, mentally kicking herself at lying to her youngest daughter. 'Today, Dawnie… later today, I'll tell you and Buffy the truth about Asherah, Caresa, and our family.' Joyce then yawned before telling Dawn that they should return to the room, "let's check in on Buffy." Dawn nodded her head as she slowly got to her feet. Joyce shook her head and then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. The older woman then got up off the couch and to her feet, grabbed the drawings, and then held Dawn's hand before walking out the waiting room and into the hallway.

Joyce was counting the hours until she would be joined by Giles who would be helping her in revealing the truth to both Buffy and Dawn. In the meantime, she wanted to enjoy the time with her children and mentally prepare herself for their reactions.

TBC.


	13. Chapter 13

**LateVMover-** I've already indicated in the first chapter that Gina was having an affair with Linton for some time. This has been referenced to in other chapters as well. So, the events of Joyce's life as Gina on Asherah shouldn't really be a surprise.

 **Orbit of Dakara.**

"Have the Jaffa prepared to move out," Anubis told his First Prime from his command chair, "once you are on the surface; neutralise any resistance and then secure the weapon."

"Yes, my Lord," the First Prime kneeled for a second before getting back u to his feet. He was about to leave when a voice appeared behind him. His staff weapon in his hands, the First Prime turned around and aimed the weapon at the woman in white in a fluid motion. "Halt."

"You're making a mistake," the woman in white said walking past the First Prime who started to wonder how it was that the redhead make it on board the ship, much less how she made it behind him without being noticed. However, those questions could be answered at a later time. For now, he saw the woman walking towards Anubis, and he fired two consecutive bursts of plasma energy at the woman. However, his eyes widened in shock when the blasts simply went through her harmlessly and impacted the wall on the other side of the bridge.

Shaking his head, the First Prime then immediately went down on one knee and bowed his head in reverence at the redhead. He was in awe; while he didn't know about Anubis' status as a half descended Goa'uld- he believe that Anubis simply hid extensive injuries under his cloak and armour- having seen the blasts go through a higher being was enough to bring a chill up his spine. It was now he realized that he was facing one of the rumoured Ascended Beings. And he was awed.

"Athena," Anubis said tilting his head, "this is a surprise."

"Don't do this," Willow said with a stern look on her face. She stared at her own self reflected on the mirrored surface that covered Anubis' face, "there are trillions of lives at stake."

"I will remake the galaxy in my own image, Athena," Anubis said before turning to his still kneeling First Prime, "launch the attack."

"Do not launch any attack, Her'ak," Willow turned her head towards the surprised look on the First Prime's face, "yes, I know your name."

"Launch the attack, Her'ak," Anubis growled at him- the man caught between the orders of his god, and another.

"The Nocturna have killed numerous Jaffa," Willow said, "you have the chance now to return home and rebuild. Forsake Anubis because he cannot harm you." Her'ak stared at Willow while his head shook from left to right. Willow could see that he was unsure of what to do, and so she made one more plea for the man to save his life and the lives of his crew. "Take this ship with you and go home. Go home and help your people. Anubis is no god, I am no god. You have nothing to fear from any of us."

"I am not a shol'va," Her'ak said straightening before he bowed at Anubis. He then began walking away, his back to Willow. As he approached the exit, the man blinked…. And then upon opening his eyes he saw that his way was blocked by Willow herself.

"The people below just saved the galaxy from a great threat," Willow said taking a step towards Her'ak. She could feel the eyes on her now, the eyes of the Others while thinking 'let me give him one more chance' and at the same time saying out loud, "it is something your so-called god…."

"Her'ak," Anubis growled. The First Prime looked over his shoulder to see Anubis getting off his seat and then walking down the two steps to the main floor before standing several steps behind Willow who was now walking around He'rak, "I am your god, and I am ordering you to attack."

"Like I was about to say," Willow frowned looking over her exposed cream coloured shoulder at Anubis before turning back to Her'ak, "your so-called god did nothing to help your fellow Jaffa. Even those who you trained with since young."

"I…."

"I can see them in your mind, you saw them get eaten and killed before Anubis ordered you to run away," Willow said hiding the smile that threatened to come on her face once she saw a glimmer of doubt in the First Prime's eyes. "You can attack the very people who saved your life… who saved the galaxy from creatures that bring only death. Or you can turn this ship around and go home to help your people recover."

Her'ak looked into Willow's green eyes and then looked away to Anubis who seemed to be bristling in rage. He knew that Willow was right- he knew that the people on the planet below had saved them all. He knew that the attack was wrong, but Her'ak was more afraid of Anubis that anything else. And so, he straightened himself while staring back at Willow and repeated, "I am not a shol'va."

"Then I wish you well," Willow said before turning back towards Anubis. Her'ak stared at Willow's back for several more seconds before he too turned around and rushed out of the bridge.

"Why are you doing this?" Willow asked Anubis with her eyebrows knitted together, "and it's not just because you want to remake this galaxy."

"I loved the look on Oma's face when you and the Others sentenced me to this existence to punish her," Anubis said taking a step towards Willow, "I remember that time well, Athena. You were so condescending while Oma begged forgiveness. And now you, like Oma, have a ring-side seat to the destruction of everything and everyone that you love."

Willow glared at Anubis.

"And there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot interfere more than you already have," Anubis said taking another step at Willow, "and I am surprised that you have managed to interfere as much as you did."

"I will walk the line," Willow said staring at Anubis, "just like Oma."

"You intend to follow her example now that you have ascended once again," Anubis stated while he circled Willow who turned her body slowly while eying him, "that is so human."

"I was a physical human for nearly twenty years," Willow said drawing on her experiences and memories of her time on Earth with her family and friends, "most people deserve another chance. And… and if they deserve it? If they can be enlightened? Then yes… I will help them ascend."

"And just like Oma," Anubis said as he stopped, "you will make the same mistakes."

"Maybe," Willow said while feeling eyes on her from the higher plains, "but that also means I have to try and fix the mess I made. That's what it means to be human… maybe after so many thousands of years of being in the higher plains, we forgot what it's like to be flesh and blood." Willow took a step toward Anubis who was standing still and said, while fully aware she was being heard, "and if I could fix my contribution to this madness? I would go back in time and agree with Oma that you needed to be sent down fully to the lower plains. There only had to be one voice of dissent, and I would have been that voice."

"Now you have to watch Oma suffer," Anubis growled as he took another step forward; he and Willow's bodies nearly touching. Willow could feel evil simply pouring out of Anubis, and she did all she could to prevent a shudder from travelling through her body. "and I will enjoy watching you suffer."

Willow simply glared at Anubis.

"Your family will die. Your friends will die," Anubis said before looking out the forward viewport to the Belisknir, and then back to Willow once again, "the Tau'ri and the Asgard will die. And all you will do is watch." Anubis then looked all around him before crowing into thin air, "all of you will watch as I burn all life from this galaxy!" and then Anubis returned to Willow, "and then my clones will ascend to the higher plains, and all of you will die."

"Well," Willow said as she rolled her hands into fists. She could already feel the Others reaching for her to pull her back into line. Willow thought about the weapon on the planet below, she thought about her parents, she thought about Buffy, about Xander, Dawn, and then she thought about Tara. And it was Tara's memories that brought the most warmth to the redhead. She was going to defend them, she was going to use all her powers for the second it would take to trap Anubis in another reality. Anubis chuckled while stepping back as Willow's fists started to glow, "not if you're somewhere else, and…"

"Athena," a soft voice said from behind Willow. Willow suddenly felt the others retreat as she looked at the soft white hand on her shoulder. Willow followed the hand up the arm, and then to the face it belonged to. It was Oma shaking her head. "I heard you. This is my responsibility, pull yourself back from the brink."

"I…" Willow tried to say shaking her head.

"Please," Oma whispered as they looked into each other's eyes, "you are correct. We need to fix our own mistakes." Willow's fists slopped glowing as she stepped back from Anubis who turned his head towards Oma.

"What are you doing?" Anubis said as Oma walked past Willow with her hands up, a bright blue glow emanating from her palm.

"What I should have done," Oma whispered as she recalled all the damage that Anubis had done so far, at least until the Nocturna began their attacks throughout the galaxy. Willow could see that Anubis had raised his hands as well, an orange glow emanating from his palms.

"You will not stop me," he exclaimed walking towards Oma, "the Others will…"

"Do nothing," Oma whispered, a tinge of sadness in her voice as she stepped towards Anubis while she mentally reached out to Willow, _'Athena, keep an eye on Daniel Jackson. He has the potential to walk on the path to enlightenment. Watch him.'_

Willow nodded her head before Oma mentally showed her the image of Daniel at Kheb a year ago, the day he showed Oma he was capable of achieving enlightenment, and thus Ascension.

"You are my mistake," Oma said as her hands started to glow while taking small steps towards Anubis, "and I will fix that mistake." Willow could feel Anubis' anger mixed with fear- anger because Oma dared to challenge him, and fear because the Others were not intervening. Willow watched on as Anubis raised his hands, which glowed blue, and then directed an energy blast at Oma who met the blast with her own. Willow saw Oma smile at Anubis who screamed out loud the he would not be beaten. However, the redhead saw the shield that covered Anubis' energy form crack while the cloak and hood he was wearing tore off.

"Goodbye, my friend," Willow whispered as Oma turned to pure energy just as Anubis left his shell as pure energy. The two of them clashed as swirls of white and grey energy before vanishing in a bright flash of light. Willow watched the empty space in front of here where the remains of Anubis' hood, cloak, and shield generator lay on the ground. Suddenly, the ship started to shake- forcing Willow to turned around only to see the Asgard vessel that was floating in orbit opening fire at the still cloaked vessel. 'The energy flare was strong enough to be detected by the Asgard,' Willow thought to herself before a smile formed on her face, 'thank you for saving us, Oma. All of us,' Willow thought to herself before vanishing from the bridge before the ship exploded just as death gliders were prepared to launch.

 **Sunnydale General Hospital, 0800 hours.**

"Mrs Summers?" asked a man as he opened the door to Buffy's room after a soft knock. Joyce and Dawn had reached the room only twenty minutes ago and, since then, the both of them put away their cots. After putting them to one side, the two of then heard the knock on the door. Joyce said come in, thinking that it was one of the nurses, however the door opened to reveal a man who looked to be about in his mid-thirties wearing a blue coloured uniform with a briefcase in his left hand. He stepped into the room after closing the door behind him and took a few steps forward.

"Mrs Summers," the man said looking at Joyce, "my name is Paul Davis, I'm a Major with the Pentagon's department of public affairs."

"Hello" Joyce said before stepping forward and shaking his hand. Joyce then stepped back and placed her arm on Dawn's shoulder before introducing her. The Major nodded his head at Dawn who was staring at the medals and wings on his uniform before looking away when she felt her cheeks redden before she mumbled out a 'hi'. Joyce the introduced the unconscious Buffy before turning back to the Major once again, "I take it you are here about that attack last night?"

"Yes," the Major replied before nodding at the door, "may I speak to you alone, ma'am?"

"Of course," Joyce said before turning to Dawn and asking her to stay with Buffy. Dawn was confused, but she still nodded her head and watched as Joyce walked out of the room with the Major. She then turned back towards Buffy, who was stirring, and walked towards the bed. Meanwhile, while Dawn reached for and held Buffy's hand, the Major and Joyce were heading into the adjacent room which was empty.

"Mrs Summers," the Major said once the door was closed shut, "I am authorized to tell you that the Nocturna have been defeated."

"Oh God," Joyce sighed in relief before she sat down on the bed, a feeling of warmth that went through her body at the realization that her family, the one killed by the Nocturna, were gone. "H.. how…?"

"That's classified, I'm afraid," the Major said before placing his briefcase on the table across from where Joyce was seated on the bed. She watched him take out a thick envelope before handing it to her, "there are four Non-Disclosure Agreements contained in this envelope, Mrs Summers. For yourself, your two daughters, and a Mr Giles."

"Thank you," Joyce said after she was handed the envelope. "Will they be going to my… my home?"

"From what I have been told, the weapon used to defeat the Nocturna is being secured," the Major said, "but they will be checking for any signs of life on your world. Once they've made sure that there are no Nocturna, you will receive a call."

Joyce nodded her head before being handed a card by the Major. She stared at the card before looking up and thanking Major Davis.

"All you have to do if you and your daughters need anything is call that number, it'll connect you to the NORAD switchboard and then you ask for General Hammond."

"Thank you, again," Joyce whispered with relief now that the Nocturna threat was gone. And now, the next step was for her to tell Buffy the truth.

TBC.


	14. Chapter 14

**Unknown Location.**

Tara felt herself lying on a soft mattress and covered in a warm blanket as she started to wake up upon hearing distant sounds- the sounds made by the breaking of waves She was very aware that she spent the night at Xander and Anya's apartment sleeping on the couch, so it was unusual to have the scent of the ocean wafting into her nostrils. Opening her eyes for the first time after last night's four shots of whiskey before slipping into a deep sleep, her vision was a blur as she blinked to clear the cobwebs.

She was surprised that that her head wasn't being split apart thanks to a hangover- not that she knew how a hangover felt like anyway. Tara blinked her eyes a few more times before she clearly made out the cream coloured wall in front of her while she lay sideways. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Tara slowly took in her surroundings while pushing her body to an upright position on the bed.

'This is definitely not Anya and Xander's apartment,' Tara thought to herself as she looked around the four walls, one of which had a door at the far left corner, that surrounded her and the items in the room, 'and why would anyone take me somewhere without telling me? No this is a dream… it has to be a dream'. Tara turned towards the other items in the room- there was a closet filled with clothes, a wooden dresser, a full-length mirror, a desk with a laptop that was shut off, two bedside tables on either side of the bed each with a small lamp. Tara, thinking she was in a dream, then looked down at herself and found she was wearing a simple T-Shirt and shorts- both of them were not hers.

Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, Tara mentally told herself, 'okay, wake up Tara.' She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath hopeful that when she opened her eyes once again, she would find herself back in Xander and Anya's living room on the couch. 'Five, four, three,' Tara mentally counted down while feeling her body getting warmer, 'two, and one.' It was a few seconds after the count of 'one' that Tara opened her eyes- she was still in the same room. Frowning, Tara turned her head towards the window, 'the sun… there's where the warmth is coming from'. She shook her head before looking around the room as the sounds of the crashing waves came back to her once again, 'what was in that whiskey?'

Tara rubbed her forehead with her right hand and tried to think hard on what had happened the previous night. It was nearly four in the morning after the young blonde returned, slightly tipsy after having spent most of the night in Giles' apartment where she, the aforementioned Giles, Xander, and Anya reminisced about Willow. And by the third glass of whiskey Tara was already slurring her speech before she fell asleep.

'And now I'm here, stuck in a dream,' she thought while turning her body and getting off the bed. Tara placed her feet on the warm tiled floor before standing up. She then walked towards the window in front of her and placed her hands on the edge of the wooden sill. Looking out, Tara stared in awed silence as a gentle warm breeze brushed past her and into her room while she took in the sight of a vast clear blue ocean. She saw the waves gently crashing onto the shoreline of the beach a few meters away that spread out as far as the eye can see. Tara popped her head out of the window and looked around before she took in a deep breath- she could smell the ocean air, 'the air is so fresh.'

Tara looked and saw she was on the second floor of a two story building while the grass, trees, and beds of flowers were swaying in the breeze. She saw some dried leaves on the grass being carried out by the breeze towards the nearby beach while birds chirped in the air.

Pulling her head back into the room and stepping away from the window, it was then that the scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted into her nostrils. Tara turned back around towards the door and frowned, 'what am I dreaming of? I never had a fantasy of staying at the beach and… oh,' She raised an eyebrow, 'but I did talk to Willow about getting away from Sunnydale for the Summer. I told her that we could rent a beach house… just the two of us all alone. Maybe this is that dream? Maybe this is what could have been?'

Tara frowned before looking down at her tank top and shorts before walking towards the door- which was when she got a whiff of strawberries coming through the door.

'I wanted to come to a place like this with Willow..,' Tara thought to herself while reaching for the door knob. She turned the knob and then opened the door, only to look out into a hallway, 'so wait, does this mean that a dream version of Willow is here?' Tara stepped out into the hallways and called out "Willow?!". But there was no answer. She then heard the sounds of footsteps from downstairs, "Willow? I know this is a dream. Are you there?" And still no answer as Tara frowned. She walked towards the top of the stairs at the end of the hallway while thinking 'maybe she could her me… I mean if it really is Willow down there.'

The more Tara walked down the stairs, the more the smell of coffee wafted into her nose. A small smile appeared on her face when she smelled pancakes, followed by the sounds of something frying, 'eggs,' she thought to herself as memories flooded back into her mind of when Willow would cook pancakes, eggs, and coffee for her while she slept, 'we would have breakfast in bed on the weekends and…' Tara took in a deep breath and fought to stop tears from welling in her eyes once she thought of the red haired girl- her love and soul-mate.

Taking a deep breath and wiping the gathering wetness in her eyes, Tara took a deep breath as she stopped at mid-way down the stairs with her hand grasping the wooden banister, "Willow?" But instead of someone calling back, all Tara received in response were some hurried footsteps and the sizzling sound made by frying eggs. Tara thought it strange that whoever it was in the kitchen was not answering her, 'maybe my voice is all hoarse from drinking last night?' Tara then shook her head, 'No, I just heard myself.' Tara's thoughts went unfinished once she heard the sound of whistling coming from the bottom of the stairs and to the left.

Tara narrowed her eyes at the whistling. It was so familiar to her- it was too familiar, 'Willow used to whistle like that. She would…' Tara shook her head once again before she started walking down the remaining steps.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Tara stopped as footsteps and whistling got closer. She then turned left and stared into the dining room where there was a wooden table with a vase of lilies She walked in the dining room and heard the whistling to her left. Turning around, she opened her eyes wide in surprise at the red haired and green eyed woman staring back at her with a silly grin on her face.

"Surprise, baby," Willow said taking a step forward and reaching out with one hand as the stunned Tara who, despite always suspecting she was in a dream with Willow located somewhere, was still stunned to see the redhead. Willow arched an eyebrow at the stunned Tara before lowering her arm, "I know this is something that… I mean this is something we've talked about so I thought bringing you…"

"You're a dream," Tara whispered as the familiar scent of Willow's strawberry shampoo wafted into her nostrils, "this is a…" Tara then shook her head and chuckled before taking a step forward, "you still surprised me Willow. I saw you die, and now here you are in my dream. As a dream. You're my dream."

Willow then smiled and stepped forward as did Tara, and they grasped each other's hands, "Tara, this is a dream. But… but I'm not a dream."

"Of course you…" Before Tara could finish what she was about to say, Willow then took her hand up to her cheek and closed her eyes. Tara opened her eyes wide and pulled her hand away from her cheek. She pulled her other hand away… the very one that had been grasping Tara's hand. The blonde witch then continued talking with a look of confusion after having felt warmth upon touching the redhead's cheek, a warmth that could only be explained by the presence of a living body, "no… Willow, I… I saw…"

"I died," Willow nodded her head with a look of sadness on her face, "but here I am… I'm alive. I.." Willow grimaced a bit as she thought about what to say. A few seconds later, she settled on saying, "I'm different."

"You're not a ghost, you.. you're not a dream…." Tara whispered taking a step back as she tried to force her mind to find an explanation, "you… you said you're different."

"I have a lot to explain, honey," Willow whispered taking a step towards Tara who looked on in stunned silence, "and after you hear me out, I hope you understand why I can't come back to you."

 **Argos.**

Kynthia was one of the first people to step into the temple once the Nocturna were turned to dust. She and several others stared around them with wide eyes at the piles of dust that were now being soaked in large swathes of blood on the marble floor. She placed her hand over her nostrils, as did the others in the temple, and stared at the bodies of the murdered adults and children. Looking back over her shoulder, she stared past their large group at the members of now broken families crying out for their loved ones.

"We must prepare burial plots for them," a middle-aged man with dark peppered hair whispered with tears in his eyes as he stared at the horror around them. Kynthia turned back towards him and then back to staring at the torn and half eaten bodies. She shook her head before whispering her agreement/ It would be several minutes later that the Stargate would activate once again- and the people who still remained in the temple staring at the horror jumped back before running back out into the sun lit day since they feared more of the creatures that murdered their people were returning.

The large group rushed out, leaving bloody sandal prints leading which ever way they left. By the time they rushed out in panic, the first members of SG 20 through 24 arrived into the temple. They stared around in horror at the death all round them- from pieces of human remains to patches of blood soaked dust- those were whatever remained of the Nocturna after the use of the Dakara superweapon.

"Get a perimeter going," the leader of SG-20, Major Kline, said before he signalled at four others to follow him towards the temple exit. It would be there, out in the sun, that he and the others would meet with relieved Argosians gathered outside the temple entrance before informing them of what happened and that the threat was finally over.

And then the clean-up began with the gathering and return of the dead to their respective peoples. Later that night, the Argosians would bury the bodies who were murdered by the Nocturna before returning to a measure of peace.

 **Sunnydale.**

It was soon after Joyce returned to Buffy's room that Giles arrived carrying 'Get well soon' balloons from the shop in the hospital lobby in his left hand, and a carrier containing two cups of coffee and a hot chocolate for Dawn. Joyce placed the envelopes on a table before turning back towards Giles while Dawn grabbed the carrier and then placed it on the table next to the envelopes. Dawn glanced at the brown coloured objects before grabbing the cup marked 'hot chocolate' while Joyce tied the balloons to the headboard of Buffy's bed.

"How is she?" Giles asked nodding at Buffy as he reached for a coffee cup and handed it to Joyce before grabbing the other one and taking a sip. Joyce took a sip and sat down on eth couch cross from Buffy's bed and nodded her head.

"She's going to be fine," Joyce whispered staring at Buffy before she turned back towards Giles who sat down next to her while Dawn took a sip while using her free hand to reach down and brush aside Buffy's hair from her forehead, "how's Tara, Xander and Anya?"

Giles sighed before taking a sip, and then saying, "Anya and Xander took Anya to their apartment." Giles talked about how silent Tara had been while they were talking about Willow's life, about how much impact she had on all of them, "but she couldn't speak," Giles whispered, "but she listened. After an hour, she asked if she could stay with Anya and Xander. And then they left. It was… it was nothing too…" Giles looked away from Joyce and stared at Buffy, "it was just a quiet memorial for Willow."

It was then that Dawn remembered Major Davis and revealed, "oh, an Air Force guy was here a few minutes ago."

"It was… you know… about that thing that attacked us," Joyce told Giles. He nodded his head before turning back to the still sleeping Slayer, and then back to Joyce who was taking a sip of the coffee. He guessed that the officer brought forms for them sign and suspected that she would tell him about it later. Giles nodded his head just before there was a groan from Buffy. Giles and Joyce stood up quickly, put their cups of coffee on the nearby table, and then rushed over to the bed where Dawn was already leaning over and whispering for Buffy to open her eyes.

"Buffy?" Dawn repeated as the formers head slowly turned towards Dawns voice.

"Dawn?" Buffy whispered with a small smile on her face as she opened her eyes slowly. Joyce was looking on a she grasped the bed railings as her daughter shifted her eyes towards her, nd then to Giles, and back to her once again. Buffy then closed her eyes, shook her head, and then opened her eyes once again and whispered, "I keep thinking it was a dream." Giles and Joyce looked at each other and then back to Buffy while Dawn held the Slayer's hand tight, "but everything was real. Even that part where I told you guys about the dream with Willow… that all happened. It did, didn't it?"

"Yea," Dawn whispered.

Buffy closed her eyes again shaking her head before she took in a deep breath, "I remember waking up to talk to all of you but… but it feels like a dream." Buffy recalled hearing Ira and Sheila, Willow's parents telling them that the funeral would be held soon, and that Willow wold have wanted for all of them to come say their goodbyes. But despite Ira and Sheila really having said that, it still felt like a dream to her.

'Willow's still gone,' Buffy thought to herself, 'but that dream….' Shaking her head, Buffy took in a deep breath before looking up at her mother, sister, and Watcher. As she thought about all she lost, Buffy just hoped there was going to be no more surprises.

TBC.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sunnydale Mercy Hospital, 0800 hours.**

While the crashed Tel'Tak and the disfigured and partially eaten body of Apophis was being recovered by the Air Force off the coast of Sunnydale, Buffy just finished the breakfast that an orderly had brought for her. After finishing the food, the Slayer began feeling her strength returning, however it would still be another day before she could go back home since she lost so much blood. After the same orderly returned for the finished tray of food, Buffy leaned back on the bed as Joyce and Dawn, the both of them who were brought some food from the cafeteria by Giles, sat down next to her.

"Feeling better?" Dawn asked while Giles stood at the foot of the bed, his hands gripping the railing while he smiled at Buffy. The slayer nodded her head before asking about Tara, and then Xander and Anya. Giles replied by saying that he had spoken to them over the phone, adding that Tara was staying over at Xander's and Anya's apartment.

"Xander said that Tara had a dream, and that she was excited about telling us some news," Giles said with a look of curiosity on his face, "I've been wondering what the news could be."

"She didn't give you any hints?" Joyce asked while thinking, 'why is Tara excited? When we saw her off last night, she was tired… and she looked so devastated.'

"Xander said they'll be here within an hour," Giles nodded his head looking at Buffy before he turned his head towards Joyce, "he said that he and Anya would stop by Tara's door so that she could take a shower and get a change of clothes."

Dawn was curious now as well, 'she was so sad last night.' She then pressed her lips together in thought before asking, "is Tara really okay?"

"She lost Willow," Buffy whispered looking back down at her hands, her fingers uneasily brushing against each other, "maybe it's her way of dealing with grief. Maybe she thinks that she can bring her back somehow, and…"

"Tara knows better than anyone the dangers of bringing… or at least trying to bring someone back from the dead," Giles said, shaking his head.

"But if we can use magic to return Willow back to us, then…."

"No," Giles said, standing firm in his resolve while his heart broke at the thought of Willow remaining dead. He glanced at the expressionless look on Buffy's face, and then at the slowly boiling anger as shown in Dawn's expression. He then looked over at Joyce who was walking toward another table where she had left the envelope given to her by Major Davis, along with the artwork she had drawn. Giles saw the art himself… it was Joyce who showed it to him, in fact. He could see the heart that went into the drawings, and the resolve in Joyce's eyes to tell Buffy the truth.

'And now's the chance,' Giles thought as he walked towards Joyce standing at the table, grabbing the envelope and the artwork, "Buffy, Dawn," Giles continued as he stopped next to Joyce and placed a hand on her shoulder, "death comes for us all." He looked at Joyce when he said that and smiled a little as Joyce turned her head towards him with tears welling her eyes. Giles knew she was recalling the death she had seen on her world before being saved by whatever being it was that saved her. "Life and death are a natural cycle," Giles gently said looking at Joyce while Buffy and Dawn looked at each other, puzzled at the look Joyce and Giles were sharing.

Giles then coughed a little and took his hand off Joyce's shoulder before stepping back, while Joyce wiped her eyes- her back towards her children.

'My children,' she assured herself, 'they are my children. No matter what, they are my children.'

"Bringing back someone from the dead is breaking the natural cycle," Giles said, his head turning back towards Dawn and Buffy, "and even if you could? Then the thing that returns will not be Willow. Are you prepared to do that? Are you prepared to bring back something that looks like Willow, but is really not her?"

"No," Buffy whispered as Dawn reached for, and grabbed her hand. The two sisters held each other's hand tight, united in their decision that they didn't want a Willow who wasn't the girl they knew. Instead, the girl would live on in their memories- even though it pained the both of them that they would not be able to talk to her anymore, or hang out, or do any of the things that they used to do.

"But… but there's something else I need to talk to the both of you about," Joyce said as she slowly turned around and stared at the two young women, "and… and I want the two of you to listen."

"Mom?" Buffy interrupted leaning forward as she watched the pained expression on her face as her eyes darted between herself and Dawn.

"There are some things that the both of you need to know," Joyce said while raising a hand, signalling her daughters to simply listen to her without interruptions, "just know that no matter what you hear… whether you like it or not… I still love the both of you."

"Mom?" Now Buffy was worried, as was Dawn. What was it that Joyce wanted to tell them, that was going through the minds of the two girls. 'Not another surprise, what else could there be that would surprise me?' Buffy thought as she stared at Joyce, and then at Giles, and then back to her mother once again, 'Don't tell me that she and Giles are going to… no… ewwww…' Buffy cringed while thinking about the time when she could read minds, and she 'heard' from Joyce's thoughts that she and Giles had sex. Twice. On the hood of a police car.

"Just listen before you say anything," Giles said while walking alongside the older blonde. The both of them had discussed this while Buffy was eating her breakfast with Dawn by her side, and he and Joyce went to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. During their journey to get some breakfast, Joyce and Giles spoke in hushed tones about the next step. While she was now adamant that Buffy should know the truth, no matter how much it could hurt if she told Joyce off, Giles suggested that Joyce shouldn't tell Dawn the truth.

"At least not until she's older," Joyce had said.

Back in the present, in Buffy's room, Dawn remembered something that Joyce had said- that she had something she and Buffy needed to know.

"Is this about that thing you wanted to tell us about?" Dawn asked.

Joyce simply nodded her head, and the Dawn pursed her lips together before saying, "okay."

"Mom, what's going on?" Buffy asked, steeling herself for another surprise.

"That thing… that monster that attacked us and killed Willow, Riley, and Spike?" Joyce said as she grabbed the railing of the bed with trembling hands. She stared into Buffy's eyes looking back at her with furrowed eyebrows; Joyce was ready to be told off. But it still broke her heart to do what she needed to do, "I've seen it before… I…"

"When, mom?" Dawn asked as she stood up from her seat.

"Twenty-one years ago," Joyce said as Giles stood next to her for support, "it… and… I mean... I mean a group of those creatures..." Buffy was about to say something, as was Dawn, but Joyce heard Giles gently reminding then to wait until she had finished telling her story. Joyce thanked him softly before she pulled up more of her confidence and took in a deep breath before continuing, "a group of these creatures attacked our village the day Buffy was born."

"Village?" Buffy arched an eyebrow, "mom, I know I was born in…."

"Buffy, Dawn, please… just listen to your mother," Giles whispered. Buffy and Dawn looked at Giles, the both wondering what was going on, and then back at Joyce.

"Buffy," Joyce said as she handed the envelope that had the NDA's to Giles before she flipped through the artwork and handed the one with a beautiful woman with long hair to Buffy. Buffy stared at the picture in confusion before looking at Dawn, who leaned sideways to take in the sight of the picture. She then turned to Joyce and was about to say that Buffy was holding the picture of the woman Joyce had drawn earlier that very morning. But instead, Joyce was the one who spoke first, "that woman's name is Caresa."

"Okay?" Buffy handed the picture to Dawn as Joyce handed the Slayer another picture with a family of five, a house behind them, and they were surrounded by what seemed to be grassland. Buffy looked closely at the picture, and noticed that one of them was a similar woman to the picture she had seen just seconds earlier, and then there was another woman who was a splitting image of Joyce. She saw that the unknown woman Joyce identified as Caresa was holding Joyce's hand while a tall short haired male was holding onto Caresa's waist. And seated on chairs were a couple, a man and a woman. Buffy didn't recognize them, neither did she recognize the man next to Caresa or Caresa herself. She then handed the artwork to Dawn.

"Buffy, twenty-one years ago… the day you were born," Joyce paused to take in a deep breath before she continued, "you…. We… ummm… we lived on another world."

Buffy chuckled, shaking her head while saying that Beverly Hills was another world, "a crazy one. I mean…"

"Buffy," Joyce shook her head while Buffy stifled her laughter and stared at Joyce, along with Dawn, "this is a joke, right?"

"Mom?" Dawn asked. Her heart raced at the look on Joyce's face- it was one of sorrow as she closed her eyes.

"Just… just listen to me…" Joyce's voice cracked as she remembered the nightmare in her village as she watched the Nocturna murder everyone she loved.

"Mom," Buffy shook her head, "I'm sorry if I…"

"They all died," Joyce said, eyes wet with unshed tears as she stared at a confused Buffy and Dawn, "Buffy, I wasn't born here," she could see that Dawn was about to add something, "I was born on a world called Asherah."

"Okay," Buffy said shaking her head, the chuckles already faded, her face now serious as she stared at her mother, "mom, this is…."

Joyce knew that this admission went better, much better, in her head. But now the cat was out of the bag, and she was determined to continue.

"All true," Joyce said looking at Buffy, and then at the confusion on Dawn's face, and then back to Buffy as she held tight to her sister's hand, "Buffy…. The day you were born…" Joyce wanted to say that Buffy was Caresa's child… she wanted her niece to know that she had a kind and beautiful mother who birthed her, and an aunt who loved her like she was her own. But Joyce's chest hurt as she opened her lips to speak… her voice now being forced out, "Caresa… she… she is… she was…" Joyce corrected, "my sister… she… Buffy, Caresa married a man… she married a man that…."

It was that that Joyce mentally told herself that Buffy didn't need to know the details of their affair.

"A… man that loved you and…" Joyce looked away from the confusion on both her children's faces, "and he and Caresa… they had you and…"

"Excuse me?" Buffy said while Dawn placed a hand to her chest and stared wide-eyed at Joyce, "mom, stop this. I don't know what kind of a game you're playing."

"Maybe this has something to do with the tumour, mom," Dawn added while Buffy nodded her head, "I can go out and call a doctor, and…."

"Listen to me!" Joyce yelled before she covered her mouth with a hand and closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face. Giles gently squeezed her shoulder as Joyce's body shook. After a few seconds, Joyce subdued her sobbing and spoke in a broken voice while shedding tears, "Caresa and Linton, her husband, had you on… on the Day of Harvest. It was an auspicious day so… so… so papa…"

"Mom?" Dawn asked with arms trembling, she had never heard her grandfather being referred to by that word. Instead, it was always "Daddy" or "Dad".

"Papa went to the next village to get some fish," Joyce continued, "it was just me, mama, Linton, Caresa, and you," Joyce blinked and stared at Buffy through teary eyes, "I… Caresa asked me to pick a name for you," Joyce sniffled, "I wanted to call you Artemis."

"Artemis?" Buffy repeated while her heart raced, 'mom, what are you talking about, what are…'

"I don't know why papa was late," Joyce said, "but the festival began, so did the celebration for your birth. Caresa…."

"And… and this Caresa person was… I mean, you're saying that Caresa is Buffy's…." Dawn couldn't even finish her sentence. The thought of what Joyce was saying along was enough to confuse her.

"Caresa was your mother, Buffy," Joyce whispered as Buffy's eyes went wide.

"Okay, stop this stupid lie right now," Buffy said with anger in her voice before turning to Dawn, "Dawn, find a doctor and get him here now and then…."

"That night," Joyce continued over Buffy telling her to stop. At that time, Joyce could see Caresa standing next to Buffy. The blonde was nodding her head as she placed her hand on Buffy's shoulder while the latter was telling Joyce to stop being ridiculous, and that what she was saying was due to her tumour. Joyce smiled at Caresa, and continued, "Caresa loved you, Buffy."

"Mom," Buffy's voice cracked. The Slayer was afraid that whatever delusion Joyce was spouting meat that the tumour could be somewhere in her brain that was dangerous. She turned to Dawn, but the younger Summers was standing still as she stared at Joyce.

"These things… the thing that killed Willow…. A group of them murdered everyone in my village… in our village," Joyce whispered, "I saw my mother murdered. I saw Linton murdered. I saw men, women, and children eaten." Buffy and simply stared at Joyce now, "Caresa had just given birth, so she was weakened. She handed you to me, and we ran out of the house. What we saw was a nightmare. These things killed indiscriminately, and as a group of us ran, they murdered them too. We ran and ran… hoping to get to the next village. But these things murdered them until it was just me; you, crying in my arms; and Caresa who was slowing down behind me.

"I stopped," Joyce whispered, "I wanted to get back and help Caresa. I lost everything except for you and her. But she told me to run." Dawn glanced at Buffy who was staring in disbelief, and then at Joyce while she felt tears in her eyes as she wondered how far Joyce had gotten in regards to her tumour. Dawn was worried that this was a sign that Joyce was going to get sicker and sicker.

"After yelling at me to run, one of those things killed her in front of my eyes," Joyce said, "I turned and ran. You were the only family I had left. So, I ran… you needed to be safe. But I tripped on something, and then there was a woman. I don't know who she was or what she was… but she saved our lives. I found myself in a castle on Earth, you were crying so loud that it must have attracted a monk to the room I found myself in. I remember he called himself a monk of the Order of Dagon and…"

"What?" Buffy said, her eyes wide open as she stared at Joyce and then at Giles. She knew that she never told Joyce about the Order of Dagon, so she wondered if Giles may have told her, 'but why? Why?'

"I'm your aunt, Buffy," Joyce said as Buffy opened her eyes wide like saucers as tears welled up, "I love you. I love you so much…. I… I have never stopped loving you. I…."

"This is all a joke," Buffy growled as she crumpled the remaining artwork in her hands, "this is a bad joke, mom."

"It is not a joke," Giles said shaking his head.

"What's the Order of Dagon?" Dawn added.

"Mom?" Buffy stared at Joyce, ignoring her sister's question, "how do you…? Did Giles…."

"She told me about it last night after the hospital," Giles admitted, "and the both of you have to keep this to yourselves. But I've already seen proof, I…"

"So," Dawn shook her head, "mom, your telling me that you and Buffy are from another planet?"

"Yes," Joyce said looking at the stunned Buffy who was shaking her head.

"Mom… why? Why are you saying all these thing?" Buffy whispered as tears welled in her eyes.

"And you've seen this proof, Giles?" Dawn asked again, and was slightly taken aback when he nodded his head. Then, as a joke, Dawn said, "this was a nice joke. So I'll go along," Dawn crossed her arms over her chest and asked, "let me guess, the both of you went to mom's ship to get the truth? Or aliens picked you up? Or…."

"Well," Giles said, "there was an alien ship."

Dawn and Buffy stared at the two adults with wide eyes, before they said, "what?"

TBC.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sunnydale General Hospital.**

"Okay," Buffy shook her head as she crumpled all the pictures in her hands while staring at Joyce, "this is ridiculous, this is stupid, this is…."

"Buffy, be a little reasonable," Giles scolded as he took a step forward while Joyce looked away, sorrow painted on her face. It was something that Dawn could see while, at the same time, feeling a sense of confusion within herself. She then glanced at the enraged look on Buffy's face as the latter growled at Giles while saying that nothing Joyce said made sense and that maybe the both of them should see a doctor. Dawn then watched as Buffy growled while throwing the crumpled pieces of paper onto the floor, and then glanced up at Joyce as she glanced away and her bottom lip quivered while a tear ran down her cheek.

Buffy then scoffed while Dawn stared at the crumpled papers on the floor, "really? Reasonable? Mom tells me that the two of us come from another world, Giles! Another world? How is that…"

"Buffy!" Dawn yelled while she stared at Joyce who was facing away from them. But from her vantage point, Dawn could see the older blonde covering her mouth with her left hand while her right was lying on her chest. The two girls saw her shoulders tremble as she sniffled and made low gagging sounds from her sobs, "just stop."

"Dawn, you can't…." Buffy looked over at her sister while Giles shook his head and turned away from Buffy. He approached Joyce and placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning forward to whisper something in her right ear. Buffy looked away, her expression still one of disbelief at what she just heard, and looked over at Dawn who picked up the crumpled pictures. "You can't believe this, Dawn." Buffy then turned to her mother and she felt horrible seeing the woman shaking her head as her body continued to tremble, but there were some things that were needed to be said, "mom, I'm scared. I don't know if the tumour in your brain has…" Buffy looked towards Giles, and then back to Joyce, "I'm afraid that… that this thing you're imagining means that… that it's already gone… I mean I read that people with these tumours have hallucinations and stuff. I'm scared that's what's happening to you. I… I want a doctor to check you, and…"

Buffy then looked back at Giles while, from the corner of her eyes, she could see Dawn straightening the pictures in her hand. The Slayer then was about to continue speaking when Giles interrupted, "I was there, Buffy. The people who killed that thing, they were from the Air Force. Look…"

"Giles, please, be serious," Buffy said shaking her head.

"This is something that you cannot tell the others," Giles said looking at Buffy, and then at Dawn, "promise me and your mother."

Dawn stared at the picture of Caresa in her hand, and then looked up at Giles while Joyce turned around and faced them while she wiped her eyes. Dawn then looked back down at the realistic drawing in her hands before she looked back at Buffy. She knew that Buffy was angry. 'Who wouldn't be,' she thought to herself. But even Dawn could see a tiny resemblance between the woman in the drawing and Buffy.

"Mom," Dawn asked looking up towards Joyce's eyes, 'and there's a semblance to Buffy too, and to me.' Dawn turned the picture around, the drawing facing Joyce, and asked, "is it true?"

"Of course, it's not true," Buffy said.

"It's true," Giles said nodded his head, "the three of you cannot tell anyone of this. Do you understand?"

"Giles," Buffy spoke.

"This is not a joke," Giles told both Dawn and Buffy, the two girls looking back at him, "what we're about to say is not a joke, and what the military is willing to do if this information gets released is not a joke."

"Giles, how can you…"

"These are not the same people who created Adam," Giles clarified, "I saw something that I didn't really believe until now. And I'm the person who believes in ghosts, demons, vampires, and other supernatural occurrences." Giles then went to the bed and leaned against the railing while Joyce silently walked over to Dawn and went down to her knees and placed her hands on both sides of her face, "Dawn, remember the two men who came to see us earlier?"

"Yeah," Dawn said as Joyce ran her hand through the girl's hair before getting back up and walking towards Buffy's bed. "But what…"

"They are from a classified Air Force program that's been sending people to other worlds," Giles said. Buffy and Dawn narrowed their eyes at the two of them before looking at each other, and then back to the two adults, "the thing that attacked us was an alien known as a Nocturna." Joyce could see that Buffy was about to say something, but she sat on the bed after lowering the railings next to Buffy's legs and asked her to listen.

"Just listen, and if you still think I should see a doctor, then I'll go… just… just listen for now?" she begged, and breathed a sigh of relief when Buffy and Dawn nodded their heads. Joyce could see that Buffy was suspicious still, and Dawn… well, Dawn's expression was a mixture of disbelief and confusion.

"The two men we met last night wanted our help," Giles said before nodding at Joyce, "specifically Joyce's help."

"Why, mom?" Dawn asked.

"This thing…" Joyce said looking at the bedsheet as she recalled the horror of her last night on Asherah, "somehow woke up and began spreading to other worlds. Other human worlds…"

"Mom," whined Buffy.

"We promised to hear her out, Buffy," Dawn said, completely understanding why her sister was in disbelief. Dawn herself was in disbelief as well, the story was out of this world – literally and figuratively.

"I just found out that there are humans on other worlds too," Joyce whispered, her eyes locked on the bedsheet. She was afraid to look back up and into Buffy's eyes in case she broke down again, "I thought we were the only people on our respective worlds." Joyce then chuckled before saying how wrong she was before continuing on, "apparently these Nocturna spread to other worlds. The two men took us to an alien ship, and…"

"Beamed?" Dawn asked.

"Beamed up," Giles said with a silly grin on his face while sputtering, "it.. it was an interesting experience. We even met an alien… apparently he…"

"A he?" Buffy arched her eyebrows.

"From his voice," Giles said. The truth was he was only guessing Thor's gender, there was no way to know if he was male or female due to lack of any genitals, "and… well… when we were on his ship, we discovered that the Nocturna decimated at least one world."

"So this alien," Buffy used her hands to make air-quote as she sarcastically said the word 'alien', "were they like grey, big eyes, and naked like in the movies?"

"Yes," Giles deadpanned, and Buffy narrowed her eyes at the older man.

"Decimated…" Dawn asked, signalling the two adults to continue while internally she was surprised at how at ease Giles and Joyce wee when they said they met an alien.

"Killed an entire population… we heard only one survived," Joyce said as she looked up at Buffy, "I know this is a lot to take in, Buffy. These things did attack our village, they murdered… ate… ate everyone. They killed Caresa and they would have eaten us too if that woman never brought us here."

"This stranger… this… this Caresa isn't my mom, you are!" Buffy exclaimed, "mom, why are you…"

Joyce placed a hand on Buffy's lower leg and gently squeezed while the Slayer had tears running down her cheeks.

"Why are you saying you're not my mother?" she cried before closing her eyes as Dawn sat down next to Buffy and hugged her sister. Joyce could see that Dawn had tears coming down her cheeks as well while holding onto Buffy. Joyce could feel tears collecting in her eyes before she looked over at Giles, and then back at Buffy. She sniffled before looking away and stopped at the picture of Caresa on the bed.

"I may… may not…" Joyce had tears going down her cheeks now while staring at Buffy. She felt Giles' hand land on her shoulder before squeezing gently, encouraging her, "I.. may not have… have given birth to you, Buffy." Joyce sniffled before wiping her tears, "on our world, naming a child is an honour. Caresa asked me to name you. She…"

Buffy shook her head and looked down as her face twisted in anguish, "stop lying to me!"

Sniffling again, Joyce shifted forward and held Buffy's hand; she was afraid that the Slayer would pull away. But the latter didn't, and Joyce felt some form of relief.

"It's not a lie, Buffy," Joyce whispered, "these people needed to find the location of our homeworld. They used my old memories of the times I'd look up at the stars to find out our home's coordinates and then the allien used his ships sensors to examine my body. And then found nothing… no tumours."

"They needed to stop this plague, and... and they did," Giles said, "and earlier today, A Major came from the Air Force to tell us that they did. The threat's over. But they don't know how many people died, or how many were affected. I suppose we won't know either."

"That's one good thing," Dawn whispered while Buffy wiped her eyes and shook her head.

"No matter what you think of me, Buffy," Joyce whispered, her daughters puffy red eyes looking back at her, "I've always loved you. I may not have given birth to you, but…"

"Stop lying," Buffy whispered.

"I love you… I'll always love you," Joyce said as Giles gently squeezed her shoulder even more, "Buffy, I… I'm not denying that…" Joyce sighed as she shimmied up closer to Buffy and Dawn, "I'm your mother in every way that matters, Buffy."

"I…" Buffy looked away wiping her eyes.

"It may take some time for you to believe what I'm telling you," Joyce said before reaching for the picture of Caresa and simply staring at it with a faraway look, "Caresa loved you so much." Joyce smiled at that memory of coming down the stairs after her final affair with Linton to find the baby cradled in her arms, and Caresa cooing down at her, "she held you that night and… and then the Nocturna arrived and massacred everyone."

Joyce glanced up at Buffy who had her eyes closed shut, looking away from Joyce. She then turned her head towards Dawn, who still had her arms around Buffy and her head on the Slayer's shoulder while looking back at Joyce.

"No matter what you think, Buffy," Giles said, "Joyce has been a mother to you. The only one you've ever known. She loves you as a mother does any of her children. She loves you as much as she loves Dawn."

Buffy sniffed while wiping the tears from her eyes, the room suddenly getting very quiet. She didn't know what to think, not really. After all, what could anyone say after being told that the woman they thought they knew as a mother wasn't really their mother. What could anyone do? Buffy denied it – already having told Joyce that it was a hallucination she was having, and that she needed to see the doctors about the tumour in her head. And then there was anger – Buffy was furious at Joyce for trying to even deny their relationship. And it hurt Buffy… it hurt so bad when Joyce said that she wasn't her daughter.

Instead, some stranger was her real mother. And that they were from another world. And that they were attacked by an alien. What could anyone say to that? Buffy demanded she stop lying, but Joyce continued. Buffy cried as she yelled at Joyce to stop, but Joyce continued. Buffy still didn't know what to say or think. All she felt now were Dawn's arms around her and the younger Summers' head on her shoulder. Buffy heard what Giles said, but her mind was still whirling with the thoughts that Joyce said she wasn't her mother.

"I'm your sister," Buffy sniffled and tilted her head against the top of Dawn's head; and then there was Dawn's secret that only she and Giles knew about. Buffy closed her eyes and breathed in deep. Dawn was the Key made into human form by the Order of Dagon and…

It was then that Buffy's thought processes stopped once again. She remembered Joyce telling her a few minutes earlier that some woman brought them to this world where they met the Order of Dagon.

'Order of Dagon, how did mom know about it?' Buffy glanced at Joyce who was caressing Dawn's cheek while her other hand was wrapped around Buffy's left hand. She then glanced at Giles who was looking back t her with a small smile, 'did Giles tell mom about the Order, or…'

"Giles," Buffy croaked before looking away from Joyce as the latter looked up at her, "did… did you tell… mom…" Buffy sniffed at saying the word 'mom' especially after Joyce said that she wasn't her own, at least in her mind that's what she heard, "about… about Dagon?"

"What's Dagon?" Dawn asked.

"The woman brought the both of us there," Joyce said looking into Buffy's eyes, "I begged her to bring them back… our family, our people… but she said that the dead can't be brought back. She said she sensed my need to protect you and so… she sent the both of us here so that we could live."

"The Dogon monks," Giles said, "as you know, Buffy, are capable of changing reality itself."

"And they did," said a familiar voice. Buffy and Dawn widened their eyes and sat up while Joyce and Giles spun around, their eyes settling on the figure with cascading red hair down past her shoulders and a cream coloured dress. She stared at them with a smile on her bright red lips.

"Will… Willow?" Giles whispered while Joyce looked over at Buffy and Dawn hoping that they were seeing what she was seeing. After seeing their stunned looks, Joyce looked back towards the redhead who nodded her head before Giles rushed forward and hugged her.

"How?" Giles asked while Willow returned his hug.

"Turns out that I'm not exactly who I thought was," Willow chuckled as Giles stepped back with a look of confusion. Joyce watched Willow turn towards her and give a small smile, "I know the woman who brought you and Buffy to Earth, Mrs Summers."

"Will… I… that…"

"Remember in your dream I asked you to not blame Joyce?" asked Willow as she turned towards Buffy and strode slowly towards Joyce, and then hugged her tight. Willow whispered in Joyce's ear, saying that she should not have any regrets. Willow then pulled back and nodded her head at the still surprised Joyce. The redhead turned towards Dawn and gave a wide grin before reaching down towards the stunned girl and then ruffling her hair.

"Hey!" Dawn reached up and grabbed Willow's hand to stop her hair style from being ruined. As soon as their hands touched, Dawn stared at Willow with a smile on her face, "your hand… it's warm…"

"I can't stay for long," Willow chuckled as she sat on the bed in front of Dawn and Buffy, "I asked the others upstairs to…"

"Others?" Giles asked.

"Ascended beings," Willow said looking up at Giles who moved to stand next to Joyce in front of the redhead, "humans who evolved beyond the point of needed a physical body."

"But… so that means that you…"

Nodding at Giles, Willow then turned to Buffy and spoke, "Buffy, the first time I was born was… well… it was a long time ago. Before I died, I achieved ascension. I saw a lot of things, Buffy… and then one day I decided to give it all up."

"Why?" Dawn asked while Buffy looked down at her hand… the one that Willow was holding. She then looked back up into Willow's green eyes and gave a small smile; she could feel her warmth too.

"I was asked once by a demon… this was when I visited Earth once again many years ago… if I would help the Slayer," Willow said watching Buffy look back in surprise, "but at that time I didn't know the answer. One day, years after that, I made the decision to help. But I couldn't interfere as I currently am… the higher beings cannot interfere in the lower planes of existence. So, with the support of my mother and my sister…"

"Mother and sister?" Buffy asked, "but…"

"My mother died after she gave birth to my sister, and then years later my sister died when I was still alive… we were at war with a powerful enemy, and they killed her."

"Oh," Buffy whispered looking over at Joyce.

"Anyway, I decided to be reborn, which meant that I had to give up everything; my knowledge, my powers, and my memories as an ascended were locked away, and I lost my immortality. My DNA was compatible with Sheila Rosenberg's and…"

"You were reborn a human," Giles said, awe reflected in his voice as Willow nodded her head.

Willow then turned to Buffy, "I know how you feel, Buffy. Having two mothers is… well… I was confused when I met my first mother after I died. She unlocked my memories and I... I remembered. I remembered all the times we had together. But that doesn't mean I love Sheila any less. She and dad are my parents… just as Moros and Melina from my first life are my parents too." Willow saw Buffy's eyes flicker towards Joyce, "Joyce is your mother, and she also has the spirit of your biological mother. I'd like to think that Caresa pushed Joyce that day… her spirit I mean… to run as fast as she could. I think it could have been a combination of Caresa's spirit and Joyce's desire to protect you that called on my friend to bring you to Earth."

"In every way that matters, Joyce is your mother, Buffy," Giles said while Buffy stared at Willow before looking away.

As for Willow, she then turned her head towards Dawn and smiled, "and as for you, everything's going to be alright." Willow turned her head towards Giles, the former aware that Dawn didn't know the truth about who and what she was, "she's going to be alright, Giles."

"Wait…" Giles narrowed his eyes at the highlighting of the word 'alright', 'no, we didn't tell Willow about Glory. None of them know except for me and Buffy. So how…"

"I have a feeling that Dawn's going to grow up to become someone great," Willow said arching an eyebrow at Giles, and then she looked back to Dawn and caressed her cheek, "make Buffy and Joyce proud, Dawnie." Willow then looked at Buffy who stared back in surprise, "the both of you will grow up to become greater than you already are." Willow then smiled at the two of them before she got up off the bed and sighed.

"I need to get going."

"But…" Buffy said before she stopped, "why? Why are you leaving?"

"Because," Willow looked away with a smile, before she looked back at Buffy, "I was only supposed to say my goodbyes to Tara… I just finished talking to her in her dream. I wanted to relay my goodbyes through her since… well… I can't stay long in the lower planes." Willow shrugged, sighed, and then looked up at the ceiling and growled, "another minute!" Willow then sighed before looking back down at the confused expressions looking back at her, "the Others like to complain. Anyway, I sensed Buffy wasn't taking the news too well so… well… here I am."

"And now you have to go?" Dawn asked, her voice cracking.

"Why not return back to... I mean… why not just simply come back?" Joyce asked.

"It doesn't work like that," Willow said with a small sad smile, "I wish it did. Returning would mean the Others would wipe my memory clean of who I was and, as punishment send me away to another world. Ascension isn't something to be taken lightly… it's not a cheat code where someone dies and then immediately comes back to life in human, unascended, form.

"What will you do now?" Giles asked as Willow looked up at him.

"Explore," Willow said, Buffy snapping her head at the redhead, "thousands of years ago, my people were explorers. And so, I wanna see the universe." Willow then looked over at Buffy, "live your life, Buffy. You have a mother and a sister who loves you." Willow then shrugged, "and one day, hopefully a long… long… very long time later… I'll come back like this to you."

Buffy gave her a small smile, "stay, Will."

"My heart is with you, Buffy," Willow said before looking up at Dawn, and then at Giles and Joyce, "with all of you." She then looked back at Buffy, "but I can't stay." Willow then sighed, "take care of yourselves, alright?"

Buffy and the others watched Willow vanish, with a smile on her face. After she was gone, Buffy glanced over at Joyce before looking away once again.

"Mom?" Buffy whispered remembering what Willow and Giles told her, that Joyce was still her mother no matter what she thought. Buffy's eyes went back to lock with Joyce's own, she still didn't believe… but she was still willing to listen, "can… can you tell me…" Buffy sniffed, "more about…"

Joyce, tears welling in her eyes again, reached down and grabbed Buffy's hand while taking a seat again. She looked at Buffy, and then at Dawn, and back to Buffy again, "what do you want to know?"

The End.


End file.
